What Is TMJ?
Temporomandibular joint disorder affects the joints and muscles around the jaw. When you open and close your mouth, you can feel those joints moving. If it's bad enough, TMJ can cause you to have problems with eating and talking.
Causes
There are a lot of things that can cause TMJ problems, because there are a lot of pieces and parts that go into making up those joints and making them work correctly. One of the causes can be an injury. If you have had some kind of injury to your jaw, then you may have problems with TMJ. You can also get arthritis in the TMJ, which can cause you to have TMJ disorder. So, what are some signs that you may have have TMJ disorder?
Symptoms
There are several symptoms that go along with TMJ. For example, you may hear some popping and clicking when you open and close your mouth. You may also feel your jaw lock open or shut, making you have to work open or close your mouth. In addition to hearing popping or clicking, you may also feel that popping and clicking. It would be like when you pop your knuckles. You may also feel some pressure release when that popping or clicking happens. Your ear may also hurt as well as your teeth.
Diagnosis
When you go see your doctor about this pain, they are going to do several things. One of them is that they will have you open and close your mouth so that they can see if they hear that popping and clicking. They may also run a scope into your joint so that they can see what's happening. If they have to do that, they will sedate you. Generally, they will just need to make a very small incision so that they can put the small camera into the joint.
Treatments
There are several things that you can do to help treat your TMJ. One is NSAIDs. These anti-inflammatories can help bring down the inflammation in the joint as well as relieving pain. Your doctor may give you a prescription for the meds, but there are also OTC NSAIDs that you can use. Your doctor may also give you a bite guard, which can help keep your jaw joints in the place where they belong.
If you have jaw pain, then you need to go see your doctor or your dentist. You may have TMJ. Contact a treatment clinic, like The Alpher Center, for more help.