What You Should Know About a TMD Treatment

Anyone in need of a TMD treatment should visit our clinic for help. This condition can be incredibly difficult to live with. It can cause pain, discomfort and make it difficult to do activities like singing in the choir, dining out with friends or even laughing loudly. Essentially, anytime that the jaw is used, it can cause discomfort and interfere with a person’s quality of life. Since the jaw is opened and closed every time a person eats, speaks, takes a drink or even makes a sound, it can essentially interfere with everything. Fortunately, this is a treatable condition and we can help.

How is TMD treated?

There are several ways to treat this condition. In our clinic, we recommend starting with noninvasive methods since they are often highly effective and do not run the risk that surgery does. With that in mind, we typically recommend a patient begin by wearing a night guard. This is because symptoms of TMD are often caused by the upper and lower teeth clenching or grinding together at night. This can be caused by high stress or happen for no reason at all. The problem is that when the upper and lower teeth are constantly grinding and clenching, it puts a great deal of stress on the muscles in the jaw and face. Imagine if you were constantly flexing your biceps by holding something in the air. Eventually, those muscles would give out and become incredibly sore. The same is true for the muscles in the jaw and face. Clenching teeth at night is the equivalent of flexing the jaw muscles so eventually, they become too worn and tired to use.

Use a night guard

Wearing a night guard every night as a TMD treatment will ensure that the jaw can relax. It is impossible for the teeth to grind or clench when one is being worn so this forces relaxation. This is a completely noninvasive treatment. The guard is slipped in at night and taken out in the morning. There are no permanent wires or surgery to be concerned about. All a patient needs to do is use the removable guard and that’s it. For this reason, the treatment is highly recommended and also highly successful. It is convenient for virtually anyone to use and it is also affordable.

Surgery may be necessary

Typically, wearing a night guard is sufficient for the TMD treatment to be effective. However, in the case that a patient does not experience a full recovery, surgery may be necessary. Jaw surgery can be an effective way to resolve the problem but it should not be taken without first exhausting all other options. If the patient would benefit from surgery, we can make the recommendations in our clinic.

Feel better and regain your quality of life

The first step in feeling better is to schedule an appointment with our clinic for a TMD treatment. We will conduct an examination, make recommendations about what we feel would help and get you started. It will be possible to live a full and rich life that is free from discomfort or pain. Take the steps necessary to get there by calling our office today.