Do you experience consistent clicking and pain in your jaw, along with neck pain and headaches? Your temporomandibular joint (TMJ), the small joint that allows you to open and close your mouth, could be the culprit.
It may surprise you to find out that the TMJ is the most used and complex joint in your entire body. A well-functioning TMJ allows us to have smooth jaw movements with little thought or pain, but sometimes, it can cause a lot of discomforts. In this article, our team at Family Dentistry and Dental Specialists Group provides you with some options for treatment for TMJ in Kissimmee.
Lifestyle Modification
About 75% of North Americans experience some TMJ symptoms at one point, and symptoms often resolve without treatment. Luckily, there are many home remedies that you can implement to improve your TMJ symptoms:
- Use over-the-counter anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen
- Perform jaw exercises which you can learn from a dentist near you
- Stick to a soft food diet
- Avoid gum chewing
- Massage your jaw muscle
- Practice mindfulness and meditation to reduce stress
While there is no definitive cause of TMJ near you, it has been linked to increased stress and anxiety levels. So, the first line of treatment should always be modifications to your lifestyle to reduce stress.
Bite Correction
When at-home remedies are not enough to ease your discomfort, your dentist in Kissimmee may advise alternative treatment options. One such option may be a customized dental splint that prevents involuntary teeth clenching and grinding during the night.
Research shows that splints can reduce TMJ pain and come with minimal side effects. When you get a custom-made dental splint from a dentist, it will be fitted perfectly to your teeth and ensure that your upper and lower jaws stay apart, providing your jaw muscles with much-needed relief from tension.
Injections
Injections into the jaw are also an effective way to provide relief from TMJ symptoms and still minimally invasive. There are two main options for injections when it comes to TMJ treatment.
Corticosteroid injection help reduces any inflammation and pain in the temporomandibular joint and eliminates chronic pain.
Botox injections are also used to treat TMJ. Botox is a chemical that paralyzes the muscles within the jaw to prevent clenching and grinding and relieve tension in the muscles. Botox has minimal side effects, but it can cause a small amount of burning and discomfort for the first few hours following treatment.
Arthrocentesis and Arthroscopy
Only when the treatments mentioned above are found to be unsuccessful will more drastic TMJ options be recommended. Both are still minimally invasive procedures; the recovery time for these options averages about a week.
Arthroscopy is performed by an orthopedic surgeon and involves inserting a small camera into the joint so that the surgeon can investigate the exact cause of the problem.
Arthrocentesis is a similar procedure, but it both diagnoses and treats the problem. In this procedure, a syringe and a small needle are used to remove fluid from the joint. Doing this helps the surgeon discover the cause of the joint swelling while reducing inflammation.
Visit Family Dentistry and Dental Specialists Group
If you have been struggling with TMJ pain for a while now and cannot find relief, give us a call at Family Dentistry and Dental Specialists Group. We are happy to help you find the right treatment to relieve your pain and improve your quality of life.