The Trouble With Temporomandibular Joint Disorder

Temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMD, is a hard disease to pin down. The causes can vary widely, the symptoms are shared with a variety of other diseases, and the cures range from over-the-counter painkillers to drastic open-joint surgery. And as if all that weren’t enough, the fact that it concerns the mouth and jaw, the body parts in charge of eating and communicating, means that fixing the problem is a priority no matter how much time and effort it takes.

Identifying The Problem

TMD is associated with a number of symptoms which indicate a problem with the temporomandibular joints, the spots where the jaw (or mandible) and the temporal bones of the skull meet. These joints normally provide a wide range of motion: not only can they open and close, they can move forwards, backwards, and side to side. This range makes it easier to line up the upper and lower teeth, and it also makes it easier to chew something from different angles.

However, when TMD strikes, it becomes difficult or painful to move the jaw in any direction. Symptoms include:

• A jaw which tends to lock open, closed, or both.
• Arthritic pain in the joints which streams forwards across the jawline or backwards past the ear and which may or may not be related to actual arthritis.
• Migraines and other general headaches.
• A snapping or popping sensation that happens every time you open your mouth wide enough.
• A sudden change in how the upper and lower teeth fit together.

As you can see, the list includes symptoms which may be completely unrelated to the TMJ along with symptoms which, if encountered alone, don’t really qualify as problems.

Creating A Solution

TMD often isn’t a major problem, which is why painkillers are a potential solution. If the pain comes and goes in waves and doesn’t stick around for very long, then you don’t need to do much aside from keep the pain at bay for as long as it’s present. It’s only when it won’t go away or harms your ability to function that you need to do something more to fix things.

There are a wide range of workable treatments for TMD which may or may not work depending on the cause:

• If you’re clenching or grinding your teeth at night, your dentist can create a special night guard to fix your jaw in place.
• If you’re simply wearing the joint out, you could modify your eating habits to include greater amounts of softer foods, and you could change your speaking habits to move your jaw less often.
• If all else fails, surgical options include an arthroscopy to clean out the joint with a small incision or else an open-joint surgery if the cause is something major like a tumor or an improperly healed bone injury.

TMD is less a specific disease and more the possible result of several different causes. As such, it requires several different solutions to deal with the problem.