When you have chronic pain in your jaw or head, this could be related to your smile. TMJ disorder, also known as TMD, is a widespread oral health issue that causes major complications without treatment. In today’s blog, your Fort Worth, TX, orthodontist talks about how we stop chronic pain with TMJ therapy.
The Discomfort of TMJ Disorder
People with this disorder could encounter a number of uncomfortable symptoms. For example, chronic headaches and migraines, jaw and facial pain, earaches, and aches in the neck and shoulders are common. People may also report a popping or crackling sensation. If they also grind their teeth, tooth sensitivity and toothaches could develop as well. When you notice symptoms like these, please let us know so we can perform a diagnosis and see if you need treatment.
The Causes and Dangers
The disorder occurs when the jaw joints that connect our jaw and skull become strained. This could be caused by complications with the growth of the smile, untreated teeth grinding, tooth loss, malocclusion, and injury to the face or jaw. This pressure could eventually lead to TMD, causing painful symptoms and complications how we can open and close our mouth. The lack of treatment could lead to bruxism, also known as chronic teeth grinding and clenching. This could lead to damage teeth in some cases too, causing painful toothaches and tooth sensitivity. To protect your smile from these issues, you need to seek treatment!
Treatment with an Oral Appliance
For some, we could bring relief with orthodontics, using braces, retainers, or clear aligners to correct the alignment of the smile and ease pressure on the jaw joints. But for many, treatment will involve the use of a custom-made oral appliance. The device will look and fit like a mouthguard, and is worn as you sleep at night. The device will be designed and custom-fitted based on digital impressions we take of your smile with the iTero® system. The device actually repositions the jaw to ease strain and prevent painful symptoms. This also prevents further damaged from teeth grinding by putting a barrier between both the upper and lower sets of teeth.
If you have any questions about treating poor alignment and joint strain, then contact our team today to learn more about TMJ treatment.
Do You Have Pain in Your Smile?
We would like to help address the pain in your smile and bring relief. If you have any questions about correcting the factors behind your TMD, or if you would like to schedule an appointment soon, please call Lake Country Orthodontics in Fort Worth, TX at (817) 236-7846. Our office proudly serves patients who live in Springtown, Rome, and all surrounding communities.
