Living With TMJ Symptoms - Treatments to Relieve Your TMJ Pain

Living with TMJ symptoms can often be an extremely painful and debilitating experience, but don't worry because there are numerous treatments to relieve your TMJ pain. These TMJ treatments will usually consist of neuromuscular dentistry, chiropractic care if necessary (to correct jaw and other misalignments), and a rehabilitation program which will consist of jaw exercises to teach the jaw how to move normally again and strengthen it to prevent recurrence of TMJ.

Although it may take time and expense to find the TMJ treatment that is best for your particular case of TMJ, rest assured that there IS a treatment that will eventually work. You do not have to live with TMJ symptoms forever!

Here is a list of TMJ treatment options for you to consider:

1. Treatment from a neuromuscular dentist: Treatment of this type will consist of advanced technologies used to detect any jaw or joint misalignments as well as diagnose any muscular malfunctions. These specialists will also work to find the source of the TMJ disorder beyond conventional means as traditional x-rays and touch; and subsequent treatments will focused on correcting the source of the TMJ disorder. Technologies that may be used to detect the source of the TMJ include sonography, electromyography, and jaw tracking technology.

Treatment to correct the source of the TMJ problems may consist of orthotics to temporarily re-align a malocclusion (misaligned or overlapping bites), orthodontics to permanently correct the malocclusion, and a custom made mouth guard or bite guard used to prevent the patient from grinding the teeth at night.

The mouth guard is especially important if one of the causes of the TMJ is teeth grinding, since this will help the patient to break this habit (by re-aligning the teeth so that it is virtually impossible to clench the teeth) and to prevent further damage; even if teeth grinding is not a cause of the TMJ, the use of this mouth guard will help to prevent this problem from developing and guarantee that any possible nighttime tooth grinding is eliminated.

Although not commonly offered, another type of treatment offered is called TENS or ultra-TENS, otherwise known as transcutaneous electrical neural stimulation, which massages and stimulates the jaw muscles, increasing blood flow and promoting waste and toxin removal form the muscles, and ultimately delivering relaxation to the muscles; in many cases this will offer immediate and effective relief of many TMJ symptoms.

2. Chiropractic treatment: This particular type of treatment will consist of neck and head adjustments and manipulations to correct any misalignments which may exist in both the jaw, head, and neck area that are the source of the TMJ. Massage of weak or malfunctioning muscles may also be done as well to strengthen the overall jaw area. This treatment is also quite effective in relieving your TMJ pain and correcting the source of this problem.

3. Rehabilitation programs: These will consist of a number of exercises which the TMJ patient must do daily in order to both teach the jaw how to function normally again, and to further strengthen any weak muscles that have been malfunctioning as a result of the TMJ disorder; these may be prescribed by both the dentist and chiropractor.

4. Relaxation techniques and anger management techniques: These must be incorporated if the source of TMJ is due to chronic stress resulting in teeth grinding or clenching; although these will not directly relieve the TMJ pain, they will eliminate a root of one of the problems causing your TMJ.