TMJ or temporomandibular is basically the jaw joint where the lower bone of the jaw meets the temporal bone of the skull. The exact point of this joint is straight upfront in the ear. TMJ treatment is required when any kind of injury occurs to the joint. There are various factors that may cause TMJ disorders or injuries. Apart from the accidental injuries, improper teeth arrangement, issues of teeth grinding, arthritis, etc., can also be the reasons behind TMJ disorders.
Symptoms and home-based immediate treatments:
TMJ or temporomandibular is basically the jaw joint where the lower bone of the jaw meets the temporal bone of the skull. The exact point of this joint is straight upfront in the ear. TMJ treatment is required when any kind of injury occurs to the joint. There are various factors that may cause TMJ disorders or injuries. Apart from the accidental injuries, improper teeth arrangement, issues of teeth grinding, arthritis, etc., can also be the reasons behind TMJ disorders.
TMJ treatment should be the immediate option upon figuring out any kind of symptom of temporomandibular joint damage. Extreme pains at the jaw, headache, stiffness of jaw muscle, ear pain, etc., are some of the TMJ symptoms. These disorders can be treated at the initial stages simply by applying ice packs as well. Anti-inflammatory drugs are recommended during the initial stages. Gentle stretching around the neck region works at mild stages. Sometimes simply avoiding chewing gums or putting less stress on jaw muscles can also heal. In very few occasions, the symptoms go away without any treatment. However, one must go through proper medical treatment if the basic home-based treatments don’t work.
TMJ medical treatment includes various methods, starting from medication-based approaches to physical therapies.
Medications
Medications are indeed the first options recommended for patients with TMJ disorders. Pain killers are prescribed on those occasions where the level of pain gets unbearable. Similarly, anti-inflammatory drugs are also recommended for keeping the level of inflammations. In general, pain killers are recommended to be avoided if the pain level is mild.
In those cases where TMJ disorders lead to jaw muscle stiffness, muscle relaxants are recommended to be taken for a few days. These relaxants, along with basic massage or stretching, can improve the condition in much lesser time than anticipated.
Non-drug, non-surgical treatments:
Everyone wants to go with TMJ treatments without any surgery. In fact, therapies involving a lower amount of drugs are also very much preferred. On such occasions, oral splints work incredibly for the patients.
Physical therapies:
One of the most effective non-drug and non-surgical treatment methods for TMJ treatment is considered physical therapy. Most people misinterpret massages and stretching as physical therapy. However, physical therapies for TMJ treatments are mostly based on approaches like moist heat treatment and various ice-based therapies.
Stretching exercises:
Stretching exercises and massages are absolutely effective towards TMJ disorders at an early stage. However, these should be exercised only as per the recommendation of the experts. The best suggestion would be to go with specialist physical therapists, rather than the normal dentists. At the same time, healing the pain and disorders, physical therapists recommend exercises to strengthen the jaw muscles as well. In fact, experts these days use explicit electronic devices to know the level of jaw muscle stiffness and recommending exercises based on the same.
Acupuncture:
Acupuncture based TMJ treatment is growing with popularity. However, only the certified acupuncture trainers should be trusted, as it’s quite a tricky approach. Here a very thin needle is inserted at a particular section of the body.
Breathing techniques:
This is also a matter of experts, where it is taught to control and regulate breath in a specific way to relax the stiff muscles, and thus lower the pain.
Apart from these, strategies like Botox injection are also tried. If the complicacies reach a level where basic strategies, as discussed above, don’t work, surgical treatment is recommended. Specifically, if the symptoms persist despite basic treatments being given or reappear after a few days, surgical treatments do remain the only option. It is always advised that only the specialist surgeons for TMJ treatment Melbourne should be trusted for the best result.
