Successful TMJ Treatment Depends on Judgment and Careful Diagnosis
The TMJ joint functions like a sliding hinge and connects your jawbone to your skull. Each side of your jaw has one TMJ joint. If you are affected by a TMJ disorder, you experience pain in your jaw joint and the jaw movement muscles.
The precise reasons for TMJ disorders are challenging to determine because the pain you experience could be from various factors like jaw injuries, arthritis, or genetics. Teeth clenching and grinding are also contributors to TMJ disorders, although many people habitually grinding and clenching their teeth are now affected by TMJ disorders.
Self-care and non-surgical treatments often prove beneficial for relieving the pain you experience from TMJ disorders. You can seek treatment from our dentist in Huntington if you experience persistent pain and tenderness in your jaw or if you experience challenges opening and closing your jaw entirely. Our dentist in Huntington Station, a TMJ specialist, will discuss the possible causes and treatments for the condition.
How Can You Manage TMJ Disorders Yourself?
When you begin experiencing TMJ disorders, you likely will have pain or tenderness in your jaw and discomfort in one or both jaw joints. You may confront challenges when chewing with aching facial pain bothering you. Opening and closing your mouth may seem challenging because of the locking of the jaw joint.
Earlier in the 70s and 80s, dentists and physicians thought the joint needs fixing to eliminate the pain. The practitioners put various reasons forward for the pain you experienced, including malocclusion and bruxism. The treatments offered back then were aggressive and frequently unnecessary.
Fortunately, thinking about TMJ disorders have changed since the late 90s, and practitioners are not eagerly pointing out malocclusion or a faulty TMJ joint as a reason for the condition. Currently, more attention is paid to sorting out various sources of the jaw and facial pain. Dentists now focus on treating various dental problems, including migraine headaches and bruxism arising from anxiety and stress.
Experts think it is best to simultaneously tackle various problems because the pain from TMJ disorders may have unrelated sources. Therefore trying to manage TMJ pain yourself without help from the dentist near you is challenging to leave you grappling in the dark instead of finding relief from the discomfort.
What Can You Expect from the Dentist Near You?
When you visit our dentist for TMJ treatment, you can expect our dentist to touch the area near the joint examining to see if it’s tender. You are asked to move your jaw to determine which motion produces painful conditions.
If you have difficulties moving your jaw up and down but not when moving it side-by-side, it is an indication of muscle pain without any issues with the temporomandibular joint. The TMJ joint could be the cause of the discomfort if both movements are causing pain.
TMJ disorders require additional diagnostic detection because many reasons are attributed to facial and jaw pain. No lab tests are available to diagnose TMJ disorders besides taking x-rays, CT scans, and MRI scans.
You can help our dentist identify the exact causes of the TMJ disorder by providing your entire history and a comprehensive description of your symptoms. You must try explaining to our dentist when the symptoms started and were associated with anything else, besides providing an entire list of all medical problems you experience.
What Precisely is TMJ Treatment?
TMJ treatment in Huntington Station is often non-aggressive because the pain is comfortably treated with a combination of hot or cold packs and anti-inflammatory medicines. Our dentist recommends you strengthen your jaw muscles or stretch them out.
Besides advising non-aggressive treatments for TMJ disorders, our Huntington dentist may recommend a soft firm device to wear over the teeth as a low-cost conservative treatment against TMJ disorders. However, if the TMJ disorder is a long-standing problem with you, along with teeth grinding and clenching, you are recommended a hard sprint right away.
You may receive recommendations for chronic pain conditions from tricyclic antidepressants in low doses or, as a last resort arthrocentesis, to remove excess synovial fluid from the joint.
In most cases, TMJ disorders disappear by themselves without treatment. However, if you need a remedy for persistent pain and discomfort, you can always contact our Huntington Station dentist adopting low-cost conservative treatments to relieve the pain you experience.
Consult to a Dentist Near You
Call us now to book an appointment with our dentist near you and learn more about TMJ treatment. We also cater to patients residing in Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington, Halesite, Laurel Hollow, Holdsworth Drive, Caribou Court, Southcrest Court, and the surrounding communities.