The Best Natural Cures for TMJ

The best cures for TMJ (Temporomandibular joint) disorder are natural ones. Natural cures for TMJ would include stretches and exercises that would do the same for the TMJ or jaw joint as normal physical therapy exercises would do for your knee or ankle.

A mainstay of physical therapy guidelines is to first reduce the swelling and try to restore normal range of motion with stretching exercises. Then use other exercises to repair and strengthen the muscles to prevent re-injury. There are dozens of simple exercises you can find online that you can try to see if they help.

If you have a lot of pain associated with your TMJ disorder you may want to try ice packs or heating pads. Use one or the other and if it doesn't work try the other. Just apply either one for about 10 minutes at a time to help relieve your pain.

To work on your stress levels you can try some Yoga breathing exercises or some other stress reducing activities. You could lessen the list of things you are trying to do each day and start listening to some soothing music regularly. When you do stress reducing therapy you need to try to clear your mind and learn to relax every muscle in your body.

You could change your diet to only include soft foods. If some foods you feel you must have are somewhat chewy you should cut it into tiny pieces before eating it. Also, don't eat foods that are hard or crunchy like nuts or raw vegetables.

One thing that will help you is to find a magnesium supplement and start taking that. Magnesium will help to reduce swelling and offer some natural pain relief for your jaw and head.

There are a few cures for TMJ you may want to stay away from. They would include surgery which is very painful and expensive not to mention highly invasive and unproven, drugs which would only give you temporary relief and side affects you don't need, and TMJ guards which are plastic or nylon tooth guards that you sleep with in your mouth.

The TMJ guards can actually give you a TMJ cure depending on the cause of your disorder and whatever TMJ symptoms you are suffering from. They have been known to work great if the doctor is experienced using them. You would need to make sure to get a thorough exam from a dentist that has experience with TMJ symptoms in order to figure out the root cause and an effective treatment plan.

Cures for TMJ need to be tailored to fit each patient depending on the root cause and the symptoms that are presenting. The most common root cause of TMJ is stress, tension, or anxiety which leads some people to grinding their teeth in their sleep or clenching their jaw unconsciously. If that is the case with you your treatment plan will need to address that as well as your TMJ symptoms because, if not, you will continue to do damage to your TMJ in your sleep or unconsciously.

Another thing you can do is network with other TMJ patients. If you find someone with similar symptom they may be able to put you on the right path to finding your own cures for TMJ.