TMJ Treatment

Just what does TMJ stand for, anyway? I have often wondered that myself. Well, it stands for tempromandibular joint. How is that for a mouthful? (Little funny unintended pun - I love it when that happens!) Anyway, I was reading about TMJ and all about TMJ treatment, and I was really surprised to find that a lot of the symptoms and problems associated with it, are things that I live with all the time! Some of the things I attributed to my weight problems, like the snoring and restricted airway. And some of the things I have always attributed to my genetics, like my teeth grinding and my migraines. Wouldn’t it be crazy if, through three generations of migraines and ground-down teeth, we’ve been calling it ‘just genetics’ when all this time it’s been TMJ disorder and we could’ve done something more about it? AGH!

Well, for this disorder, I would need to see a neuromuscular dentist, and on this dentist directory, I found one that is only about an hour away from me! I might just need to check into this! I was doing some more reading on TMJ/TMD at Wikipedia, and I found out that there are many different ways to approach treatment for such. I have always wanted to get some type of mouth guard for at night when I sleep, because of my teeth grinding. The last time I went to the dentist, he showed me how much damage I had done with my grinding and it was scary! But some people actually have caps put it to get their teeth properly aligned to help with their symptoms. I also read that braces can help, if your teeth are healthy enough. It’s all quite interesting and eye-opening and has really gotten me thinking!

GO READ A BOOK!