Categories: Preventive Dentistry

How We Treat TMJ Disorder?

In our last blog, we talked about how we diagnose and treat an issue like bruxism, or chronic teeth grinding. However, there is a related issue known as TMJ disorder, which can cause painful symptoms and impact your oral health. In today’s blog, your Maple Grove, MN, dentist talks about how we diagnose and treat issues like TMJ disorder.

The Causes of TMJ Disorder

The temporomandibular joints connect our jaw and skull, and control the actions necessary to eat and speak. When these joints undergo excess amounts of strain, this can cause TMJ disorder, also known as TMD. The disorder can cause major discomfort and even complicate how we open and close our mouth. Without treatment, the pain can worsen and even lead to related complications, such as bruxism. Causes could include teeth grinding, injury to the face or jaw, issues with the growth of the jaw or eruption of the teeth, misalignment, tooth loss, and the arrival of the wisdom teeth. As part of your treatment, we will conduct a detailed diagnosis to assess the underlying causes, helping us select the right treatment for you!

Warning Signs of Trouble

You could experience multiple warning signs of the disorder, such as pain in the face and jaw, headaches and migraines, a popping or clicking sensation in your smile, and aches in the neck and shoulders. If you develop bruxism as well, tooth sensitivity and toothaches could occur as well. Don’t ignore these possible warning signs, reach out to our team right away to find relief and protect your smile from worsening pain and complications.

Treatment with an Oral Appliance

For some, we could correct misalignment with orthodontics, such as braces or aligners. We could replace missing teeth with a prosthetic, or even use bonding or crowns to improve overall bite balance. But for most, we offer relief with an oral appliance. The oral splint will be created based on detailed digital images and measurements we take of your smile. In a lab setting, we use these to design and craft the oral appliance, which will look and fit like a mouthguard. When worn at night, this will reposition the jaw to ease strain and stress, and also provide a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent bruxism-related damage from occurring.

If you have any questions about how our team will diagnose and treat issues like TMJ disorder and/or bruxism, then contact our office right away. We can schedule an exam to start you on the path to a healthy and comfortable smile.