Temporomandibular joint disorder or simply TMJ disorder is a disease related to the lower jaw which may occur due to improper function of chewing muscles and the jaw joints. Millions of people all over the world suffer from this disparate disease with its symptoms varying from person to person. However, some common symptoms of the disease are pain in or around the ears that may spread to the face gradually, clicking sounds while opening or closing mouth and causing difficulty while eating, feeling pain while opening mouth wide during yawning or chewing, certain head and neck aches, tenderness of jaw muscles, etc. The cause of the symptoms need to be determined and diagnosed by any bay area dentist before the disorder gets acute and end up in severe pain. The process of diagnosis includes a complete medical history, proper medical examination, X-rays, etc. Early diagnosis of TMJ disorder by any bay area dentist can save time and money for the patient.
Though the main cause of TMJ disorder is lack of balance between the function of Temporomandibular joint and chewing muscles, there are some other reasons like injuries in jaw, head or neck due to accident, arthritis that may result in TMJ disorders. Some teeth and bite related problems like improper dental setting and grinding of teeth may also end up with TMJ problems. The bay area dentist even find some predisposing factors related to TMJ diseases- gender, age, posture of a person, dental occlusion and sleep disorder.
Treatment for TMJ problems varies as the disease can involve the teeth, temporomandibular jaw or the chewing muscle of the patient. Some common methods of treatment that the bay area dentists practice are elimination of Spasms and pain, counselling or biofeedback and /or relaxation training, rearranging the way the teeth fit and surgery. However, surgery is recommended for patients who have got an acute TMJ disorder and when all other treatment procedures fail.
It is wise to follow the recommendation of a bay area dentist for any TMJ problem for the treatment before it aggravates.
Charles Smith
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