TMJ: Temporomandibular Joint Disorder

Tmj (temporomandibular joint disorder) is a medical term used to talk about inflammation in the jaw joint where your jaw connects to your skull, just in front of your ear. You can have tmj in both jaw joints or in one side or the other. Tmj may affect your life in many ways such as; headaches, ringing in the ears, chewing, talking, breathing, and even sometimes being able to make facial expressions. Some people also have a hard time eating, swallowing, ear pain, neck pain and shoulder pain.

People with tmj will hear a popping sound, clicking sound, or even a grating sound when talking, eating, chewing gum, or even when they yawn. The most common complaint is the clicking or popping sound. If you are hearing these types of sound along with pain you might have the disc that absorbs shock from chewing, talking, and other movements my be out of place or in an abnormal position.

Some people notice swelling in their mouth and face on the affected side or sides. People with tmj may also have other symptoms or medical conditions being treated by their doctors without connecting tmj to the cause or as part of the factor. Some of these conditions are allergies, ear infections, ear problems, fibromyalgia, cardiac arrhythmias, sleep disorders along with irritable bowel syndrome.

Most people don't think to see a doctor about their problem until a bigger problem happens and they can be diagnosed with tmj. Normally when this happens it's because they are experiencing open lock jaw, or closed lock jaw from muscle spasms.

Treatment for both of these conditions are pretty easy to treat. With open lock jaw, they treat you by sedating you enough to take your jaw in their hands while their thumbs move your jaw down, forward, and backwards to unlock and slide back in to place. Closed lock jaw is fixed almost in the same way. With closed lock jaw the doctor sedates you to a completely relaxed state to help relieve some of the tension in your lower jaw, for them to move your jaw around enough to unlock your jaw and can be opened again.

There are some things you can do to help treat tmj at home. You could use over the counter medications such as , noninflammatory medications ( aspirin, tylenol, ibuprofen, motrin, aleve). These types of medicine may help ease the pain. If your a big gum chewer or other chewy treats such as gummy bears or gummy worms or hard candy you should limit how much or how often you eat this stuff as this will flare up your tmj.

You can also try warm compresses for twenty minutes at a time on affected side. Then immediately after doing the warm compress do the home therapy lower jaw movements. You could do this by applying your pointer fingers to each side of your jaw right below the ear where the jaw connects to the skull. Then with your pointer fingers in a circular motion applying some pressure with your fingers open your mouth and close your mouth, move your jaw from side to side. You should try this for three to five times a day for two weeks to four weeks.

If you clench or grind your teeth you might want to try a night guard. You can pick one up at your local walmart in the teeth care isle. You should be able to find one for twenty dollars or less. These will really help out a lot at night when you have no control or knowledge of clenching or grinding your teeth.

If none of these seem to be help you can talk to your dentist or an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor who can refer you to an oral surgeon who can do a surgery on your jaw to help with pain and comfort.