TMJ / Occlusal Bite Disease

You may have heard someone say that they have TMJ. TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint, which is the joint that moves the lower jaw. This is an in depth topic, with many different treatment and theories. I will give you the just of what it is and what to do about it.

An example of how severely teeth can be worn by bruxism or TMJ.

TMJ disorder is basically dysfunction with or without pain in anywhere in the teeth and or the joint. Sounds a little confusing right? There is a wide variety of signs and symptoms. Some people may not have pain, but may have TMJ damage. Others may have headaches or migraines. Many will hear or feel a clicking noise near the ear when eating or opening the mouth. The teeth may be sore with no visual sign of why they are sore. Ringing in the ears or pain in the ear can also be symptoms. There are too many variations of the above to list, so lets talk about treatments.

In dental school, we were taught to make a night guard. This worked most of the time, but sometimes patients didn’t have the same success as others. Well, after learning to make our own splints at the Pankey Institute, we have a great deal of success. If you notice, we call them “splints” rather than night guards. This is because we are trying to reposition the jaw joint up into the socket, which is the most restful position for the joint while at the same time the teeth have even contact on the splint.

The “ball” of the ball and socket joint of the jaw can be positioned out of the socket to some degree by the muscles. This is usually done to avoid a tooth that may be hitting harder than the others. It can also be positioned this way so that all the teeth can come together at the same time. Some reasons why the difference in where the teeth come together and the jaw not being in the socket can occur naturally from habit or as a result of braces, if it was not taken into account during orthodontics.

If you suspect that you or someone you know has TMJ disorder, it is not something that you have to live with. Long term, there can be serious damage to the joint and the teeth, as well as headaches of unknown origin. We can treat this condition with our bite splint and other noninvasive treatments so call 830-249-9300.

- A recent study links Teeth Grinding to Sleep Apnea. Click here to read article