TemporoMandibular Joint Dysfunction, often called TMJ or TMD, is known as the "great imposter" because so many symptoms that patient complain of can be related to this disorder. The list of possible TMD symptoms include back pain, dizziness, ear congestion, ear pain, eye pain, facial pain, fatigue, headaches, jaw clicking or popping, jaw locking, migraines, muscle twitching, neck pain, ringing in ears, shoulder pain, sinus congestion, and many others.
Acute trauma to the jaw joint will usually result in pain in and around the joint. Most dentists are able to treat this type of trauma with hot and cold compresses, soft diet, jaw exercises, and anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen. Patients with chronic jaw joint problems, on the other hand, rarely have pain in the joint. Instead, they tend to complain of neckaches, headaches, backaches, ear congestion or pain, and even numbness and tingling in the fingertips. This article will help explain how TMD is related to these seemingly unrelated symptoms.
One fascia myth is that massage can "work out knots" in the fascia and eliminate these structural changes simply by rubbing these areas (think upper back/neck). Unfortunately changing fascial structure is not that simple. Just think about a neck and back rub; they feel great for a short period of time but the irritation will be back sooner or later. Recent research has found that fascia - once thought to simply be passive connective tissue (like a spider web) is actually innervated and has its own smooth muscle tissue (smooth muscle is a type of muscle that can not be voluntarily controlled). This means that the brain and the rest of the central nervous system is actually involuntarily controlling fascia through neural activity.
If that was a bit confusing for you, I will go back to the computer posture analogy to clear it up. After slouching for 8 hours a day at the computer for a period of weeks (or even years), your body creates more and more new fascia to help meet the demands of your new slouching posture. After a period of time, this fascia can become restrictive and make it hard for you to move out of poor posture. Your neck and upper back feel tight all the time because you have adapted to poor postural patterns even when you are not on the computer. To combat this, you might try to stretch your neck but it only provides temporary relief; you might get a massage and it feels great for the next 30 minutes but sooner or later you are back in pain. This is because the brain is telling the fascia to stay put.
Both latex and memory foam mattresses are good choices for shared sleeping, especially if one person tosses and turns more than the other, because they isolate motion. Bedding made from this visco-elastic material is effective for anyone whether he is a side sleeper or one who sleeps on his back or stomach.
A dentist trained in TMD treatment that relieves the stress on the jaw joints has the potential to relieve most if not all of the above symptoms. If the symptoms have been long standing, however, other health care providers such as chiropractors, osteopathic physicians, physical therapists, and massage therapists may be needed for complete relief. And in certain cases, the "TMD symptoms" may not be due to the jaw joints at all. Back and neck disorders can also cause the same symptoms as TMD. In these cases, TMD treatment will be of limited benefit and your dentist may be able to refer you to the appropriate health care provider.
If you suffer from any of the symptoms listed in this article, it may be worth your while to have your dentist perform a TMD screening. I speak from personal experience; I suffered from lower back pain and numbness in the fingers for many years, potentially a career ending condition for a dentist. I never believed I had TMD because my jaw joints never hurt. With the proper diagnosis and treatment of my TMD, however, I have now been pain free for over two years, and continue to practice dentistry with no numbness in my fingers
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