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Common Treatments for TMJ
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 TMJ can cause severe pain in your jaw and even limit your mouth's function. In mild cases, you might experience pain once in a while; in more severe cases it might be difficult to chew hard food or even talk. Luckily, most cases of TMJ do not require surgery and can be treated with minimally invasive procedures.
Preventing Teeth Grinding
One very successful method of treatment for many people is the use of a mouth guard or splint. The guard allows your jaw to relax and prohibits your teeth from grinding together, especially while sleeping. Most people only need to wear the mouth guard while they sleep, but if your case is very severe, it might be necessary to wear it throughout the day as well.
Relaxation to Ease TMJ
Oftentimes TMJ is brought on by stress. In these cases, it is necessary to train the jaw muscles to relax, which can be done in a variety of ways. Learning to manage stress at home, practicing yoga and going for professional acupuncture can help to relieve some of the stress in your jaw. In addition, it might be recommended that you receive biofeedback or ultrasound treatments to further relax the jaw. In very severe cases, muscle relaxants might be recommended to prevent the spasms that occur in the jaw muscles.
If you experience chronic pain in your jaw or difficulty opening your mouth often, it is important to seek dental attention before the situation becomes worse. Non-surgical treatment has been proven to the be the most effective for TMJ, but it needs to be administered early on before the condition becomes too difficult for non-surgical methods to treat it. |
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