Alleviate Pain with Expert TMJ Treatment
It is estimated that nearly 10 million people in the United States suffer from painful, discomforting temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, with more than 90 million exhibiting symptoms of strained jaw joints. Fortunately, our doctors at Advanced Dental Care have decades of combined experience in providing TMJ treatment at their Valdosta, GA, practice. You can receive effective, compassionate care to relieve painful symptoms and preserve your long-term health.
What Are TMJ Disorders?
TMJ disorders are often caused by improperly aligned jaws. This misalignment can cause your jaw muscles to contract repeatedly to find a comfortable fit and balance. Eventually, the muscles in your jaw can become fatigued and swollen, causing the local nerves to become stressed. Over time, this can lead to discomfort and pain throughout the body. You can experience a range of other sensations and pains caused by TMJ disorders, such as:
- Headaches:
- Stress put on the nerves and muscles throughout the face can generate mild to severe headaches. Clenching of the jaw and grinding of the teeth can cause pain, which then travels to other areas of the skull.
- Neck, Shoulder, and Back Pain:
- The misalignment of your jaw can cause the surrounding muscles to become fatigued, causing the muscles in your neck, shoulders, and back, to compensate for proper support. As those muscles become fatigued, your posture can become affected, leading to pain and tightening in your upper back.
- Jaw Joint Discomfort:
- Clicking, popping, or grinding sounds can be heard when talking, chewing, or yawning. Symptoms can vary between dull, constant pain to a more sporadic, sharp pain in front of the ears, or at the back of the jaw.
- Ringing Ears:
- Many patients can experience tinnitus, or ringing of the ears. This ringing can range from mildly distracting to severe.
- Tooth Pain:
- Many patients suffering from TMJ disorders also grind their teeth. The pressure from grinding is absorbed primarily by your teeth and jaw, which can lead to worn tooth enamel, sensitivity, and fatigue of the jaw muscles.
Treating TMJ
To properly pinpoint the cause of the pain and concern with your bite, we will run a range of analyses and tests. Our analysis will help us create a customized plan that will address more than just the symptoms of your oral health concerns. Depending on your specific issues, you may require multiple restorative and general dentistry treatments or the use of a mouthguard appliance.
Our analysis will help us create a customized plan that will address more than just the symptoms of your oral health concerns.
For many patients, the appliance offers the necessary support to help stabilize the lower jaw and alleviate some of the pain. The mouthguard can also be worn at night to help prevent patients from grinding of the teeth, which may aggravate some of the symptoms.
Find Comfort Today
We understand the toll that TMJ can take on your quality of life, constantly having to fight the irritating and often painful symptoms of the disorder. At our office, we treat each and every case individually, taking the time to thoroughly examine your case to design the very best plan and solution. To learn more about our treatments and how we can help you achieve long-term relief, please contact us today.
