Dental Emergency    Call: 578-3776

TMD/TMJ DISORDER

Are you suffering from TMD/TMJ Disorder ?

If you answer yes to any of these following, you maybe suffering from TMD:

• Do you experience pain in your face or in and around your ears, or headaches that your medical doctor can’t explain?
• Do your ears feel muffled or clogged?
• Do your jaw joints (TMJs), located in front of your ears, hurt when you chew and do they make clicking or crackling noises?
• Do your facial muscles feel tired or stiff when you’re awake after a lot of speaking or when yawning?
• Do you clench or grind your teeth together while sleeping or awake? Does your spouse tell you that you make loud noises with your teeth when you’re asleep?
• Do you have headaches in the sides of your temples?
• Are you unable to open your mouth freely, smoothly and as wide as you are accustomed to doing?
• Are you unable to move your jaw from side to side with your mouth open?
• Do you experience episodes when your jaw gets stuck open or closed?
• Do you feel that your upper and lower teeth don't fit together as they used to?
• Is chewing tough foods uncomfortable or painful?
• Do you experience pain in lots of your teeth that your dentist can’t explain?
• Have your teeth been shifting, creating spaces or crowding for no apparent reason?

Are your teeth chipping and are the front teeth worn flat on their edges?

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD or TMJ Disorder) is commonly caused by disharmony in the joint-bite relationship. The majority of TMD sufferers are unaware of the root cause of their problems.

The chewing system attempts to correct a bad joint-bite relationship by distracting the lower jaw joints from their sockets so that our teeth can mesh together when we close. This places stress on the TMJ discs,ligaments, and muscles that facilitate jaw movement and may lead to TMJ pain and muscle spasms in the face, head, and neck. The disharmonious joint-bite relationship will also trigger muscles that cause grinding (Bruxism) which erodes teeth and jaw joints.

TMD / TMJ Disorder is a common condition with a wide variety of symptoms:

• Worn/Shortened front teeth
• Worn/Shortened back teeth
• Fractures seen in the enamel of teeth
• Sensitive back teeth
• Fracturing of teeth for no apparent reason
• Loosening of teeth
• Bone loss around teeth leading to periodontal (gum) disease even with excellent oral hygiene
• Gum recession
• Tenderness in the jaw joint
• Clicking, popping, and/or grinding noises in the jaw joint
• Neck, shoulder, and back pain
• Muscle pain of the head and face
• Limitations of opening the mouth
• Locking of the jaw
• Sensitivity in the eyes
• Migraine and migraine-like headaches
• Tension headaches
• Stuffiness/Fullness in the ears
• Ringing in the ears
• Vertigo

Treatment for TMD/TMJ Pain

TMD is like having a torn cartilage in your knee. Without proper medical treatment, you will suffer from pain in the knee, ankle, foot, and muscles.

Dr. Alavi can diagnose and effectively treat the underlying causes of the TMJ disorder by utilizing a diagnostic/therapeutic splint. This splint transforms a bad bite into a good bite and aligns the jaw joints in their respected sockets thereby reducing the stress to your teeth, muscles and joints. It is a safe, noninvasive and reversible treatment. You will feel immediate relief in most cases on the first night of using the splint.