The Role of Chiropractic Care in TMJ Treatment
Approximately 12 percent of Americans experience TMJ disorders causing pain and discomfort in the jaw. In addition, TMJ disorders can result in other issues like chronic headaches, clicking sounds when opening and closing your mouth, et cetera. The discomfort might send you rushing to a doctor or the dentist in New Port Richey seeking a remedy without realizing chiropractors can also help ease the pain and discomfort of the disorder. Conventionally TMJ disorders are managed by dentists. However, chiropractic treatment has also delivered successful results.
Understanding TMJ Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis
Your TMJ joint works like a sliding hinge connecting your jawbone to your skull. TMJ disorders cause discomfort in the jaw joint and the muscles controlling their movement. Determining the exact reasons behind a TMJ disorder is challenging, but the problem can arise from genetics, arthritis, or jaw injury. Teeth grinding and clenching habitually also cause TMJ disorders but chronic patients with bruxism never develop this problem.
If affected by TMJ disorder, you will likely experience pain and tenderness in your jaw and discomfort in one or both the TMJ joints. In addition, you may experience challenges chewing or pain and locking of your jaw joint, making it difficult to open and close your mouth.
You may experience painful TMJ disorders if the joint’s disk erodes or shifts out of alignment, arthritis damages the joint’s cartilage or impacts damage to the joint.
If you experience pain in the jaw joint with the symptoms mentioned above, you must have it assessed by the dentist near you, who will evaluate your jaw and perform tests to determine whether a TMJ disorder affects you. After that, they recommend various treatments, often combined to help provide relief of the discomfort.
How Can Chiropractic Care Treat TMJ Disorder?
Chiropractors treating TMJ disorders aim to alleviate pain and discomfort to improve jaw function using manual adjustments, soft tissue therapy, and exercises to help realign your jaw, reduce muscle tension, and enhance mobility. Chiropractors will also focus on the cervical spine, besides the upper back and shoulders, because these areas are closely related to jaw function. Addressing the misalignments or restrictions in the areas allow chiropractors to help reduce tension and improve jaw mobility.
Chiropractic Techniques Used in TMJ Treatment
Chiropractors use various techniques in TMJ treatment by focusing on the three crucial muscles contributing to jaw pain. The muscles are the masseter, the temporalis, and the pterygoid while also paying attention to the suboccipital muscles besides the jaw joint and the top two vertebrae, significantly impacting the jaw joint to ensure everything is aligned correctly. They also suggest exercises you can use daily at home to relieve TMJ jaw pain.
Combining Chiropractic Care with Other Treatments for TMJ Disorder
If you seek TMJ treatment in New Port Richey, the dentist, after evaluating your joints to determine whether you are affected by a TMJ disorder, will recommend various treatments, often combined, to find relief from the pain. Besides receiving medications like pain relievers and anti-inflammatories, tricyclic antidepressants, and muscle relaxants, they suggest nondrug therapies like oral splints and physical therapy similar to chiropractors’ recommended exercises.
Combining chiropractic care with other treatments helps strengthen jaw muscles because the exercises will include ultrasound, moist, heat, and ice. You may also receive counseling to help you understand the factors and behaviors that may aggravate your discomfort to help you avoid them. For example, if you grind and clench your teeth or bite your fingernails frequently, the counseling encourages you to seek treatment for bruxism or prevent biting your fingernails for relief from TMJ pain. However, combining chiropractic care with other therapies for TMJ disorders is routinely followed by Dr. Srividya Vulugundam to ensure you find comfort from the TMJ disorder as soon as possible.
Although TMJ disorders cause discomfort and make life uncomfortable, the pain is usually temporary and disappears without treatment. However, if your symptoms persist because you need to seek TMJ treatment near you, expect the doctor or dentist to suggest various remedies considering surgery as a last resort if nonsurgical treatments fail to deliver results.
You can also use lifestyle and home remedies to overcome the challenges caused by TMJ pain. Some examples include avoiding overusing your jaw muscles by eating soft foods, stretching and massaging with help from your doctor or a chiropractor, and applying moist heat or ice to the side of your face to alleviate pain.
If affected by jaw pain with symptoms similar to a TMJ disorder, request help from Orange Groove Dental, providing treatments for this condition using various therapies. They can help you manage and overcome jaw pain using nonsurgical therapies for comfort from TMJ disorders.