Jaw Joint (TMJ) and Facial Pain
What is Jaw Joint (TMJ) and Facial Pain?
Highly advanced treatment methods are applied for people who are faced with Jaw Joint and Facial Pain. At this point, let's examine the details together.
What is the Jaw Joint?
It is said that a person's jaw muscle is used 2,000 times a day during chewing, swallowing, breathing and speaking. Because the jaw joint is connected to the spine and is close to the teeth, many problems may occur. The movements of the lower jaw are made by using the neck and jaw muscles. A cartilage pad holds these joints together.
Where is the Jaw Joint?
Jaw Joint and Facial Pain is the joint formed by the lower jaw bone and the temporal bone. It's at the junction of the lower jaw and skull on either side, and it will move as you move your jaw every time you chew, swallow, yawn, or speak.
How is Jaw Joint Discomfort Treated?
There are various treatment methods for jaw joint disease. First of all, it is very important that you are thoroughly and adequately examined by your doctor and diagnosed.
With the correct use of the jaw joint in early diagnosis, many treatments are very short-term. Therefore, if you want your treatment to be successful, you should follow your doctor's recommendations and start using your jaw joint correctly.
You can do small chin exercises at home. Doing the daily exercises recommended by your doctor and being careful during the day is one of the most important points of treatment.
Physical therapy is very important in controlling pain. It is one of the most important treatments for the relaxation and healing of the muscles.
You can use painkillers, muscle relaxants and antidepressants under the supervision of a doctor and on the advice of drug therapy.
Cold / hot therapy that can be applied to reduce pain and prepare the jaw for exercises.
If your jaw problems are caused by some psychological effects, your doctor will recommend psychotherapy.
Clenching and grinding of teeth have a great effect on the formation of jaw joint disorders. For these reasons, splints attached to the lower jaw at night will provide joint opening and prevent the problem of clenching.
Manipulation method is used to relax the jaw muscles by sliding the joint disc.
How Does the Jaw Joint Work?
There is a cartilage pad between the lower jawbone and the temporal bone that prevents wear and facilitates jaw movements. This cartilage cushion holds the joint and bones together and connects our jaw to our skull by providing joint integrity.
How Does the Jaw Joint Deteriorate?
There are many causes of jaw joint deterioration. However, these include clenching teeth (bruxism), using the jaw badly and harshly, and chewing gum. In order to facilitate jaw movements, the existing cartilage pad slips and breaks down as a result of abrasion between the two bones. With the slippage of the jaw disc, the jaw joint deteriorates and a treatment is required under the control of a doctor.
What Can Be Done for Jaw Joint Disorder?
First of all, you should consult your doctor and wait for the diagnosis and treatment to be determined. After getting a diagnosis from a specialist dentist, appropriate treatment should be determined and applied as soon as possible after X-rays, tomographs, MRI, pet extraction, and the progression of jaw joint disease should be prevented.
Why Do Jaw Joint Disorders Occur?
Constantly clenching and grinding the teeth (bruxism) is one of these reasons.
Posture disorder plays a very important role in jaw joint disorders.
Closure problems in the jaw, dental diseases,
One-sided chewing puts too much stress on the unilateral jaw muscle,
Some psychological reasons
trauma, exposure to too much cold, hard foods,
Behaviors that use jaw movements such as nail biting, chewing constantly, breathing through the mouth, eating seeds, talking on the phone for a long time, playing the violin,
Jaw joint disorders may occur as a result of diseases such as tumors and inflammatory rheumatism.
Why Does Jaw Joint Occur?
The jaw joint formed by the lower jawbone and the temporal bone may require treatment in some cases. Although it is a chronic disease, sometimes it can occur suddenly with difficult dental treatments, traffic accidents, getting hit and intense stress.
What Are the Symptoms of Jaw Joint Discomfort?
You feel tenderness and pain in the muscles. If you feel pain in the jaw area and cheeks, you may be experiencing jaw joint discomfort. It is one of the most common consequences of clenching (bruxism).
If you can't move your chin comfortably and feel restricted. It may occur with the slippage of the articular disc and deterioration of the anatomy.
If you hear noise in your joints, you may hear noise in your jaw joints due to the dislocation or calcification of the joint disc.
If you feel a slip in your mouth, it indicates physiological disorders that occur between the joint discs.
Changing your daily chewing routine. Pain when chewing and unilateral chewing can lead to joint disorders; can cause jaw joint disorders.
Experiencing intense stress and psychological disorders can cause a very troublesome process in mouth movements.
Complaints such as tinnitus and dizziness may also be among the symptoms. As a result of the jaw joint being connected with the skull, such complaints may occur.
Pain radiating to the ear, tooth, neck and eye is frequently seen among the symptoms.
What are the Causes of Jaw Joint (Temporomandibular) Disorders?
With the weakening of the jaw muscles and the laziness of the jawbone, the jawbone cannot be used actively and the muscles weaken.
Jaw joint disorders may occur as a result of the loss of harmony between the jaw joint and the disc in the joint and the slippage of the disc.
Incorrect treatments and procedures that damage the relationship of the jaws with each other are also included under this title.
The habit of chewing gum is a habit that is very damaging to the jaw joint.
Difficulty while yawning or eating, opening the mouth more than necessary, consuming hard foods are among the causes of jaw joint disorders.
If you have strained the jaw joints or feel pain, you can apply a hot compress to the aching area with a hot towel when you wake up in the morning.
This ailment, which is generally seen in the middle-aged and older group, needs to be treated with care. Otherwise, it may cause other physiological and psychological problems.
What is Teeth Grinding or Teeth Clenching?
Teeth grinding / clenching, also known as bruxism, is a problem that increases with stress and adversely affects dental health when left untreated. Because it usually occurs during sleep, people who have this problem are not aware that they are grinding and clenching their teeth unless they experience pain. It may cause waking up with a vague pain in the morning. If it is not treated for a long time, it causes big problems such as not being able to open the mouth.
Initially, it starts with complaints such as headache, facial pain and jaw pain in the morning. It progresses over time and causes difficulty in eating and opening and closing the mouth, causing increased jaw problems.
People with jaw discomfort can apply to the jaw surgery clinic. However, in emergencies, you can also apply to ear, nose, throat and neurology clinics.
It is important that you start the treatment process, which you will determine with z, quickly. It is necessary to raise awareness of the patient and transfer the necessary information and details.
This problem can be easily avoided by using dental plates. They are transparent plates used to prevent the teeth in the lower and upper jaws from touching each other and to cut their contact. The patient needs to be specially prepared by taking the size of the mouth.
Protective appliances made of hard acrylic material can be used. It is called the night guard. Just like dental plaques, it is used to prevent the lower and upper jaw teeth from touching each other.
In addition, tincture relaxants and hot compresses will relieve the tension in the muscles and allow you to relax. It should be used with the recommendation and advice of your doctor.
What Kind of Problems Does Teeth Grinding or Clenching Cause?
In the first stages of the discomfort, it causes problems such as head, face and jaw pain complaints in the morning. However, as the severity increases and the disease progresses, the pain increases and causes serious problems.
This disorder, which occurs in jaw joint disorders, can cause pain every time you open and close your mouth. As a result, it may cause you to be unable to open your mouth.
The teeth that you clenched with pressure that you cannot control at night may break or fall out due to excessive pressure.
It creates sensitivity in your jaw muscles.
It causes damage to the teeth and cheeks.
What should be considered in the treatment of the jaw joint?
The doctor you choose during the treatment process will become one of the most important criteria. Your communication with your dentist should be accurate and understandable.
Your doctor can apply many treatment methods together. Regular use of medications and regular visits if physical therapy is given are essential for a positive outcome of the treatment.
If your doctor has recommended a diet, it should be done regularly without interruption.
If a prosthetic splint is included in the treatment, you should continue to use it regularly as recommended by your dentist, unless otherwise informed by your doctor.
If you have started using plaques, you should go to regular checkups and carefully monitor the development and healing process.
How to Understand Improvement in Jaw Joint Treatment?
It is a process that varies according to the size of the problem you are experiencing and the severity of the pain. A severe pain may not heal completely every time you experience it. For this reason, it is very important that you start your treatment under the control of a doctor as soon as the size of the pain increases.
Another criterion is that you can continue your daily activities without pain. The fact that you can perform actions that use jaw joint movements intensively, such as eating, talking, and yawning, without pain, is a sign that the treatment is going well.
Is Talking Too Much Among the Causes of Jaw Joint Disorders?
There is no scientific knowledge or anything said by doctors as talking too much causes jaw joint disorders. However, it may be necessary to be careful as moving the jaw too much will be a negative situation during the treatment process.
How should the chin be used to prevent chin joint disorders?
You need to pay attention to dental and oral hygiene. Oral hygiene, which is one of the most important criteria, is very important.
You should not neglect your dentist checks. Even if you do not have any problems with your teeth or jaw, you should consult a dentist every 6 months and have your routine check-ups.
You should avoid bad habits such as nail biting, pen biting, and trying to break hard-shelled foods with your teeth. You will also have a great role in solving jaw joint disorders.
You can start physical therapy with the advice of a doctor to correct your posture and posture. With regular physical therapy, you can easily get rid of joint ailments.
Lips should be closed, teeth should be open. You must have the right posture.
When chewing something, you should use your right and left jaws equally. The act of chewing on one side will cause discomfort.
The hardest suggestion you should pay attention to is to stay away from stress. You should try to live a calm and stress-free life.