What Kind of Care Is Most Efficient for TMJ?

What are the facial movements daily without giving them much thought? It is undoubtedly smiling, laughing, chewing, and talking. However, if you are affected by TMJ disorders, would you find it comfortable to go through your facial movements? No, you wouldn’t because the simple actions you never think about cause persistent pain without realizing you have a problem with your jaw.

TMJ symptoms do not last forever and disappear by themselves in a couple of months or more. However, if the pain persists and causes discomfort, it makes you seek treatments from the dentist in Auburn, Al, for relief from the condition as soon as possible.

TMJ and DMD Jaw Pain

The muscles and ligaments helping you move your mouth connect to your temporomandibular joint connecting your lower jaw to your skull. TMJ disorders emanate from conditions like arthritis, injuries or infections in the TMJ, and dislocation of the jaw joint. As a result, you might hear ticking sounds and locking of your jaw joint besides suffering from headaches, neck pain, and ringing in your ears.

TMD symptoms don’t last long for many people. Unfortunately, others will experience pain and discomfort when moving facial muscles, a chronic condition that constantly worsens by chewing, swallowing, and continually grinding teeth.

What Are My TMJ Treatment Options?

Conservative treatments are your best options for TMJ problems. You can achieve TMJ pain relief from nonsurgical treatments in minor cases. TMJ surgery is often the last resort and not considered by most medical professionals unless the patient is affected by a severe disorder.

If you are looking for efficient and effective nonsurgical therapy for TMJ disorders, TMJ treatment in Auburn, Al, suggests the following remedies for relief.

• Maintaining Your Jaw Resting Position: to help alleviate TMJ pain, minimizing broad jaw movements like yawning, singing, yelling, and chewing is helpful. In addition, you must try to keep your jaw muscles relaxed as best as possible.
• Get A Good Night’s Rest: Sleep is essential for many aspects of good general health. For example, to minimize TMJ pain, you must sleep on your back using pillows to support your neck. You must avoid sleeping on your stomach or the sides without placing your hand under your jaw.
• Posture Correction: you will feel more pain in your jaw if sitting in a challenging position for extended periods. While working, it helps if you choose a chair offering back support and take breaks frequently for posture improvement. Use a similar tactic when driving by sitting upright or watching TV and reading. Choose a space that permits you to sit upright by placing a pillow behind your back for support.
• Hot and Cold Compresses: Hot and cold compresses help alleviate TMJ pain. You can use an ice pack to reduce swelling and pain, and a warm compress helps increase blood flow to relax your jaw muscles. Use the compresses for 15 to 20 minutes without extending this therapy because it can cause tissue damage.
• Stress Reduction: meditation techniques are helpful for loosening and relaxing your jaw. You also find similar results from yoga practices making it an excellent activity to calm your mind and relax your face.
• Make a note of Harmful Habits: Harmful habits exist in everyone and if you are accustomed to nail biting, resting your jaw in your palms, clenching your teeth or grinding them, and chewing cheeks and lips, make a note of these habits and report them to the Auburn dentist for advice on how you can improve them.

Besides the above, some activities and foods can make you aggressively open your mouth or jaw. Therefore, you must avoid yawning or yelling, having crunchy or hard foods, taking large bites when eating food, chewing gum, and foods that require extensive chewing.

If your discomfort doesn’t subside by the above techniques Dr. Mark Summerland, DMD suggests over-the-counter painkillers or prescribes medications like muscle relaxants, tricyclic antidepressants, et cetera for a few days for relief from TMJ pain.

In most cases, conservative treatments for TMJ disorders are efficient in providing relief which, in any case, subsides by itself in a couple of months. However, if you experience excruciating pain from TMJ disorders, you may require surgery to correct the problem or alternative remedies like correcting misalignment with your teeth and overcoming habits like bruxism that are also responsible for jaw pain.

If you are affected by jaw pain, kindly consult Central Park Dental Care — Auburn to ascertain the reasons for the discomfort. If the dentist detects TMJ disorders, they suggest nonsurgical remedies to improve your condition and provide relief from the issue with your jaw joints.