Living and Dealing with TMJ

Are you tired of feeling helpless when it comes to TMJ? Is it disrupting your quality of life? Let’s change that.

Around 35 million people in the US alone suffer from TMJ at any given time. Unfortunately, more women seem to suffer from TMJ than men. And, with limited research and resources, it’s sometimes hard to be pro-active about this condition.

As chiropractors, we see many people come to us looking for relief from TMJ. There are also a few things you can do to help minimize pain.

First, What Exactly is TMJ?

What it is. Temporomandibular joint disorder or TMJ is inflammation of your temporomandibular joint (connects your skull to your lower jaw).

What it feels like. TMJ causes great pain in your jaw joint as well as limitations in your jaw movements. Depending on how severe the condition, it can cause extreme pain and discomfort, headaches, migraines and shoulder and neck pain. TMJ is also known for limiting your movements making speaking, eating, swallowing and sometimes even breathing difficult.

What it sounds like. Commonly, TMJ often makes clicking, crunching or grinding noises when you open and close your mouth.

Let’s face it, it’s extremely frustrating and it’s time to do something about it.

How We Can Help You

Confirm. We’re here because we want to help you, naturally. We can run through a few quick movement tests to confirm TMJ is the cause of your pain. And, by taking a look at your lifestyle, diet, family history and routines, we can get a better look at if you really have TMJ and what could be making it worse. Then, we can come up with some solutions. Sometimes an X-ray or an MRI might be required to confirm TMJ is the issue.

Adjust. A chiropractic adjustment may help align your spine and body, relax your muscles around your jaw, and with trigger points you can even re-position your jaw as it should be.

Benefit. Adjustments can greatly relieve the tension around these joints (inside and outside of your mouth). This type of care may help you find relief and also help minimize your pain and occur less frequently.

How You Can Help You

Here are a few things we can talk about for you to practice to help relieve your pain and also protect yourself from pain in the future.

Eat softer foods so that it’s easier on your mouth.
Apply ice or moist heat.
Avoid extreme jaw movements (such as yawning, loud singing, and gum chewing)
Wear a mouth guard when you sleep for protection and stabilization.
Stretching or strengthening exercises. Ask me how!
If your TMJ is caused by stress, we’ll discuss ways you can reduce stressors in your life.