TMJ Disorder

Managing Stress to Help Your Jaw Rest

You may spend most of your life unaware of the important little triangular-shaped joints located in front of each of your ears. Lined with cartilage, these joints move with a smooth, gliding motion; under normal conditions, they join your lower jaw and temporal bone, allowing your mouth to open and close. However, stress-related reactions can wear down that cartilage, exposing nerve endings and creating jaw pain. In fact, the temporomandibular joint is highly sensitive to overall physical, emotional and psychological stress. Further, it's affected by the mechanics of your bite and the condition of your jaw muscles. So, a little extra stress, a little extra fatigue, a little change in your bite, and you may temporarily knock the whole system out of balance. That’s why it’s not uncommon in our fast-paced society to hear of people with temporomandibular joint disorder, commonly called TMJ disorder or TMD. TMJ can cause a wide variety of mild to severe symptoms, from jaw clicking and minor discomfort to sharp pain in your temple, ear, jaws and teeth. It can even prevent you from fully opening your mouth, “lock” your jaw open, or dislocate your jaw altogether.

That's why Dr. Stenvall automatically evaluates our patients for this disorder, so that we can help arrest the problem, protect your teeth from further damage, and correct any underlying bite malfunction. This may involve fitting you with a hard acrylic physiologic bite appliance, suggesting ways to alleviate stress, and recommending symptom relief measures. For example, you'll need to avoid chewing gum or hard, chewy food, take small bites, and alternate chewing between both sides of your mouth. Good nutrition will help the joint heal more quickly; good posture will also help relieve discomfort. It's important to keep your back straight and hold your head in a relaxed and upright position, avoid cradling a telephone between your head and shoulder, and sleep on your side or back. To relieve soreness, light temple and jaw massage will stimulate circulation and relax the muscles; for actual bouts of pain, alternating moist heat and cold for 20 minutes will further increase circulation. Finally, over the counter anti-inflammatories or analgesics can be very helpful as well.

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