Chew On This – Jaw Pain, TMJ Pain, TMD

'Ever notice yourself clenching your jaw when you're stressed, tired, or for no reason at all? If you have, you’re not alone. Approximately 1/3 individuals experience some sort of discomfort in their jaw, whether its pain, clicking or locking.

Before we take a bite onto what we can do about TMJ pain, let’s try to digest the functional anatomy of the jaw. The TMJ, aka temperomandibular joint, is made up of two bones; 1) your mandible (typically the part that people refer to as the “jaw”) and 2) your skull. These two bones contain a small disc between them and are connected to one another through ligaments and muscles. These muscles allow our jaw to open, close, move side to side and forward and backward.

TMJ pain can have a number of contributing factors including stress, clenching your jaw, prolonged slouched postures and even chewing gum too long. These can all lead to pain, stiffness, clicking, locking and limited mobility of your jaw.

So what can we do about this and how does a chiropractor have anything to do with the jaw? As you may be surprised to know, we can do quite a lot for the jaw!

A chiropractor will take a thorough history to figure out the root of the problem followed by a physical exam of the TMJ and surrounding structures to diagnose the problem – tight muscles, stiff joints, or contributing lifestyle factors.

Your jaw can be treated through a variety of options like joint mobilizations/manipulations, corrective posture exercises and soft tissue therapy.

• Soft tissue therapy: Performed on the inside or outside of the mouth in order to effectively target tight muscles that may be causing pain.
• Stress management: We tend tighten our muscles when stressed so taking control over our stress can be enormously beneficial
• Interprofessional co-management: We commonly work with dentists for TMJ pain

 
If you’re experiencing TMJ pain and would like to get to the root of the problem, contact us to see how chiropractic care may be able to help you.