TMJ or TMD
(temporal mandibular dysfunction) as it is known by medical
professionals can be a horrible problem. TMD has received a bad rap
because physicians in most cases need to be dentists, and dentists
need to be more like physicians to provide efficacious treatment.
For years surgical solutions only seemed to exasperate or at least
did little to relieve the symptoms of TMD. There is no recognized
specialty of TMD, only a few dentists who strive through continuing
education to help people with this problem. Although very few
dentists get involved with treating TMD the solution can be rather
simple and very efficacious for the patient.
What are some
of the symptoms of TMD? Common symptoms include, but are not
limited to one or all, the following: Headaches (daily or
weekly), facial muscle pain, ringing in the ears, ear pressure,
difficulty opening and closing your mouth, and clicking joints. TMJ
(TMD) patients are frequently woman because their ligaments are
more limber so their joint bone is more likely to become
displaced. From my own experience 30% to 40% of all young
children that I examine have clicking joints but few develop any
other symptoms. The likely cause for clicking is some sort of known
or unknown trauma. Trauma pulls the ligament beyond 30% of the
ligaments’ resting length permanently lengthening the ligaments.
The joint the ligament supports is no longer supported, placing the
joint at risk for further deterioration.
