Clicking Jaw? You might have TMJD. Symptoms, Self-Care Tips, and Treatment Options
Doctor explains Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJD) symptoms, causes, and home remedies. Learn about jaw pain, clicking sounds, and treatment options to alleviate discomfort and improve your quality of life.
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Topic Breakdown
Are you experiencing pain in the area near your ear, your jaw, or the muscles on the side of your face? Possibly accompanied by a clicking or popping sound or restricted jaw movements? If so, you may be suffering from Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction, also known as TMJD. In this post, we're going to cover what the Temporomandibular Joint is, the symptoms of TMJD, when you should seek help from your doctor, and finally, treatment options.
First, let's discuss some basic anatomy to help us understand this problem a little better. You have two TMJs, also known as Temporomandibular Joints, one on each side of your face just in front of your ears. Your TMJs connect your jawbone to your skull, and they help with movements like chewing as well as speaking. TMJ dysfunctions are conditions affecting your jaw joints and surrounding muscles and ligaments.
This might happen because you do things like grinding your teeth, causing wear and tear of the joint over time, or you have an injury to the joint, you're stressed, or you have an uneven bite. Now that we understand more about what the TMJ is and why you can develop dysfunction of this joint, what are some potential signs and symptoms?
Patients often mention that they have developed pain around the jaw and ear, which is accompanied by a clicking, popping, or grinding noise when they move their jaw. Other people might notice a headache around the temples, difficulty opening their mouth fully, or the jaw feeling like it locks when you open and close the mouth. The pain may also be worse when chewing and when you feel stressed, and it can also stop you from getting a good night's sleep.
The good news is that in most cases, TMJ usually isn't serious and generally gets better by itself. But there are a few things that you can do at home to try and ease your symptoms, and here are my five top tips:
1. **Eat Soft Foods**: Try to eat soft food or things like soup, mashed potato, and porridge—foods that won't require you to chew hard to break the food up. Try to avoid chewing gum.
2. **Over-the-Counter Pain Relief**: Consider taking simple over-the-counter pain relief like paracetamol or ibuprofen. Always make sure you read the instruction leaflet before doing so.
3. **Ice or Heat Packs**: Hold an ice pack or a heat pack wrapped in a tea towel to the jaw. You can choose whichever feels better, or you could alternate between the two. Do this for 2 to 3 minutes at a time.
4. **Massage**: Try massaging the painful jaw muscles.
5. **Relaxation Techniques**: Perhaps most importantly, try to find ways to relax. This is crucial for the long-term prevention of TMJ dysfunction. Activities like meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi could all be great options to help you relax.
Finally, what are some treatment options? You can have stronger painkillers, relaxation techniques to reduce stress, and ways to improve your sleep. The doctor may suggest you see a dentist if teeth grinding might be an issue. Some people have found that a psychologist can help if stress and anxiety are making the pain worse, and a physiotherapist may be able to help with advice about jaw exercises and massage.
If these treatments don't help you, you may be referred to a specialist in joint problems to discuss other options such as painkilling injections or even surgery. It's important to seek help from a doctor more urgently if you start to develop a sore scalp, especially around this region, frequent very severe headaches, or vision problems such as double vision or loss of vision in one or both eyes.
I've included lots more information on Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction in the description box of this video if you'd like to learn more. Please do leave a comment if you'd like to share your own experiences with TMJ dysfunction or if you found this video helpful. I'd love to hear from you.
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Thank you for reading, and I hope you found this information helpful.
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