TMJ Headache Treatment

Rancho San Diego Dental Group offers TMJ treatment to our patients who are suffering from this potentially debilitating disorder. Contact us today to schedule your appointment, and learn more about it here.

What Is TMJ Disorder?

TMJ disorder is a condition that affects the temporomandibular joints and the muscles and ligaments that surround them. These joints connect the jawbone to the skull and are vital for eating and speaking. If they don’t function properly, you can experience symptoms that extend beyond the jaw to the face, ears, head, neck, and shoulders.

Causes of TMJ Disorder

TMJ disorder has no single root cause. Instead, the symptoms can stem from a number of other issues, such as:

• Misalignment of the teeth (malocclusion)
• A jaw injury
• Persistent stress
• Grinding or clenching of the teeth (bruxism)
• Arthritis
• Regular wear and tear

In order to determine the appropriate TMJ treatment, your dentist will need to assess the cause of your TMJ dysfunction. If you have experienced any of the above, make sure to let them know.

Symptoms of TMJ Disorder

The symptoms of TMJ disorder begin around the joint area, but they can spread well beyond that. Symptoms may include the following:

• Jaw pain or stiffness
• Difficulty opening and closing mouth
• Clicking or popping of the jaw
• Migraines and headaches
• Aching facial pain
• Tooth pain
• Earaches
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)

TMJ disorder can also cause the way that your teeth fit together to change. If you feel your bite has altered and your teeth no longer properly connect, contact us to schedule an appointment.

Potential TMJ Treatments

There are a number of TMJ treatments available. The treatment best suited for you will depend on both the cause and symptoms of your TMJ disorder. When you see us for your assessment, we will likely suggest one of the following:

Behavioral Changes

Certain behaviors exacerbate symptoms of TMJ disorder. Altering these behaviors can potentially bring a lot of relief, and you can begin changing most of them right away:

Chewing Objects

Some people chew pens or ice cubes to relieve stress or anxiety. These behaviors are not only bad for your teeth, but they are also frequently the cause of TMJ pain. You should also avoid using your teeth to perform certain tasks, such as opening packaging.

Bad Posture

Bad posture shifts stress onto areas of the body that are not designed to handle it. This can result in a chain reaction that starts from the overstressed area and ends up placing extra pressure on your temporomandibular joints or on other areas that are affected by your TMJ disorder.

Teeth Clenching

Teeth clenching is a habit that can’t necessarily be stopped by sheer willpower. Some people clench or grind their teeth as a result of excess stress or because of the medications they’re taking. This clenching or grinding can even occur while they’re asleep.

Some treatments to address teeth clenching include meditation and self-care, speaking with a therapist, or wearing a nighttime mouth guard.

Stress Relief Practices

If stress is the cause of your TMJ disorder, seeking ways to alleviate it can potentially alleviate your symptoms. Meditation, exercise, speaking with a therapist, and removing stressors when possible can all be effective, particularly when done in tandem with one another.

Massage

A simple way to help the jaw muscles relax is to massage them. Massages can be coupled with the use of heat or ice packs to improve their efficacy.

Medications

Certain medications can help to alleviate symptoms of TMJ disorder:

• Over-the-counter pain relievers
• Muscle relaxers
• Anti-inflammatories

While medications can help, you may still require other forms of TMJ treatment in order to address the source of the symptoms.

Non-Surgical Treatment

Addressing your TMJ disorder might require a combination of behavioral changes, medications, and one or more of the following non-surgical treatments:

Physical Therapy

You can work with a physical therapist to alleviate stress in your temporomandibular joints and build up muscle in the area surrounding them.

Nighttime Mouth Guards

This TMJ treatment is used for those who suffer from nighttime bruxism, or teeth grinding and clenching. You’ll wear the mouth guard when you sleep to better align your bite and reduce stress on your jaw.

Injections

Both corticosteroid and Botox injections can be used to relieve symptoms of TMJ disorder. Corticosteroids reduce inflammation in the jaw muscles and relieve pain, while Botox can temporarily paralyze the jaw muscles to stop teeth clenching and allow the jaw to relax.

Ultrasound Therapy

Ultrasound therapy utilizes sound waves to encourage relaxation of the jaw by providing heat to the muscles and improving blood flow.

Surgical Treatments

If non-surgical treatments prove ineffective, surgical options can potentially provide you with the relief you’re looking for. Those options include the following:

Arthroscopy

A TMJ arthroscopy procedure aims to reshape or reposition the jaw to alleviate excess pressure that may be causing your symptoms. It is minimally invasive and requires only a small incision, through which a surgeon inserts a thin instrument called an “arthroscope.” In some cases, scar tissue can also be removed during the surgery.

Arthrocentesis

Sometimes, TMJ disorder is associated with a buildup of fluid in the joint, which may exacerbate symptoms. Arthrocentesis is a procedure designed to remove that fluid.

Open Joint Surgery

An open joint surgery differs from arthroscopy; rather than making a small incision to insert an arthroscope, the surgeon makes a larger one to access the jaw joint. Open joint surgery is generally only used if arthroscopy is not an option.

Our TMJ Headache Treatment

Rancho San Diego Dental Group offers a TMJ headache treatment that is performed using computerized neuromuscular dentistry. During this treatment, we utilize a number of sophisticated instruments to find the position of the jaw where the jaws, teeth, and muscles operate in harmony.

The first goal is to find the position of the jaw where the muscles are relaxed and at rest. This is a three-dimensional position in space and is often unrelated to the position of the teeth.

We also utilize a device called a Myo-Monitor to relax the muscles. This device delivers a mild electrical impulse to the muscles that move the jaw. In addition to relaxing the muscles, it sets up ideal muscle function by increasing blood flow, flushing out toxins. We often find that after 45 minutes of stimulation, the muscles are in their ideal position.

We then utilize the K7 Evaluation system to record this position and transfer it to casts or models of your teeth.

Full oral examination and consultation

Once we have verified the comfortable position of the lower jaw, we can fabricate an orthotic that allows the jaw to close to this ideal position. In this position, the muscles are at an ideal length and will not go into spasm. Muscles will heal, pain trigger points will go away, and joint capsules will heal. This orthotic is left in place for three months to stabilize the bite and insure that all symptoms are gone.

At this point a decision is made to wear the orthotic indefinitely, have orthodontics done to move the teeth to this ideal position, have one or two arches of teeth restored, or to adjust the bite to this ideal position.