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TMJ
TMJ dysfunction and head and neck pain.

When drugs don't work for you.

Many people suffer from dizziness, earaches, face, head, neck shoulder, and back pain. They may also suffer chronic fatigue, irritability, blocked or ringing ears, difficulty in swallowing, temporary loss of memory and arthritis-like joint pains or numbness in parts of the body that seem to have no relation to the teeth.

The case is frequently unrecognized by physicians whose standard training has not equipped them to understand the relationship between the teeth and jawbone and the alignment of the jaws and rest of the body. Many dentists are also unaware of how closely their work is linked to a patient's general health.

Consequently, thousands of chronic sufferers go from one medical specialist to another, taking potent drugs which fail to bring relief, even having needless surgery when the pain becomes unbearable or being referred to psychiatrists who cannot help them because these experts are concentrating on the symptoms without recognizing the cause.

Malocclusion and the TMJ

Your jaw joint which holds your lower jaw in place is suspended beneath your skull by an intricate system of muscles and tendons.

The jaw joints also known as the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) are some of the most complex in the body. The jaw joint, surrounding muscles, and the fit of your teeth are closely interrelated, each affecting the other as you make every day jaw movements such speaking and chewing.

The way your teeth fit together is called occlusion. When your teeth are not in proper relation to each other and to your jaw joints, the jaw automatically shifts to a new position in an attempt to compensate for the misalignment of your teeth known as malocclusion.

It can be seen from the diagram how a misaligned TMJ can affect blood vessels, nerves and muscles, causing severe headache or ear pain. Now also imagine what can happen to the rest of the body. If the jaw is out of alignment, other skeletal structures (such as the neck and spine) can become involved, which can result in other joints, nerves, muscles and blood vessels being affected. As nature tries to compensate for one difficulty, others are likely to arise.

Structural stress from a misaligned TMJ is the worst kind of physical stress because there is no way the body can find relief for it. An injured limb can be rested, but it is impossible to leave the TMJ inactive. Without realizing it, we swallow hundreds of times a day, and at night we may clench or grind our teeth. Every time those teeth meet in incorrect occlusion, there is stress. To compensate for it, the jaw muscles begin to hold a tense unnatural position; and before long, the tension travels by chain reaction throughout the body.

Diagnosing the problem

Before prescribing the proper treatment for your particular problem, a variety of diagnostic procedures may be necessary. A detailed head and neck physical examination is usually necessary and is so detailed as to require one or more hours time. Sophisticated radiographs may be taken of your jaw joints. These radiographs are used as a means of detecting disease and position of the jaw joint. A medical, and head and neck history is also carefully reviewed. Other electronic, computer aided studies may also be used such as sonographic joint vibration analysis and EMG recording.