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Pain radiates through your jaw, teeth and head as you take a bite. You hear clicking sounds every time you open and close your jaw. You go get checked out and your doctor has diagnosed you with TMJ, also known as TMD or TMJ Dysfunction. What can help ease your symptoms? Natural treatments such as a chiropractic care can help your TMJ pain.
What is TMJ?
TMJ is the temporal mandibular joints on either side of your head connecting your jaw (mandible), to your skull, (temporal bone). TMJ can be caused by stress, or by injury to your jaw, head, neck or spine. Causes can include sitting at your desk too long; clenching or grinding your teeth; getting hit in the head or neck; falling on or getting hit in the chin; falling on your tailbone; or whiplash.
Symptoms
Clicking in your jaw, or pain when you eat are often the main symptoms of TMJ. Other symptoms include headaches, trouble sleeping, ringing in the ears and sinus congestion.
Treatments
Simple home-remedies such as holding ice packs on your jaw and eating soft foods can help ease your pain. Over-the-counter or prescription pain medications can also help, but should be used occasionally. Another option is chiropractic care, a natural treatment used for TMJ. Done by a professionally licensed chiropractor, chiropractic treatments can help reduce your pain and address the underlying problem.
Other treatments such as surgery are considered irreversible and should be carefully considered. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) states, treatments that are irreversible such as grinding your teeth down, bridge work, implants or surgery should be avoided as much as possible. These types of treatments have not been proven 100% effective and may cause further damage.
Chiropractic Care for TMJ
Chiropractic care can be the answer to help you with your TMJ and the painful symptoms, without the irreversible damage other more invasive treatments can cause. Your chiropractor is trained in finding the root of the problem, which is often a muscular imbalance in the jaw area, and to heal it naturally by performing treatment on your body to address the problem and reduce your pain.
