TMD & TMJ Services & Treatment in Belleville
Your Belleville dentists offer services to help relieve discomfort and pain in your jaw and supporting muscles, often caused by TMJ disorder.
What is TMJ disorder?
“TMJ" stands for the temporomandibular joints. These two joints are located in the front of each ear and connect to the jawbone. They are responsible for all the movements needed in biting, chewing, swallowing food, speaking and making facial expressions. Very often, people suffer from a set of conditions that cause discomfort and pain in the area of the jaw joint, jaw and associated muscles.
What causes TMJ disorder?
The most common cause of TMJ is clenching or grinding of the teeth during sleep, often called bruxism. Other contributing factors could include injuries to your jaw, arthritis, genetics, hormones, low-level infections and auto-immune diseases.
How can Belleville Dental Care help?
While there is no solution to TMJ disorder, once diagnosed we can help treat the problem. We may recommend a specialized night guard to help correct your bite, which may help alleviate some of the stress and pressure on your teeth.
Symptoms of TMJ
- Jaw pain or inability to open mouth comfortably
- Clicking or popping sound in jaw
- Locking of the jaw
- Headaches, neck, shoulder and/or back pain
- A bite that feels uncomfortable or off
- Numbness or tingling in hands
- Unexplained tooth pain
- Ringing in the ears