TMJ treatment

Can Your Jaw Joint Be The Source Of Other Pains?

May 9, 2016

Have you ever found yourself searching the internet for “causes of jaw pain?” How about TMJ pain, jaw popping, pain when chewing, or any other discomfort or difficulty in using your jaw? You’re not alone – around 15 percent of adults have some form of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder (TMD).

You might be wondering if TMJ pain can cause problems for other areas of your body, and the answer is undoubtedly yes. Aside from headaches and dental pain there are some severe problems that can result from untreated TMD. At Really Smile Dentistry we want to help you find TMD relief not only for the sake of your smile, but for the sake of your health and quality of life as well!

Understanding TMJ/TMD

Your TMJ is the spot where your jawbone meets your skull. If aligned properly it can function without problems for life, but that isn’t always the case. Changes in your bite, an injury, arthritis, a bad bite, or any number of other issues can change the way your jaw fits into your skull, and when that happens your TMJ isn’t sitting right.

When your jaw joint isn’t allowed to move like it naturally does it gets seriously painful. It pops, clicks, locks, and sends waves of pain shooting through your face, neck, and back. The longer it’s left untreated the worse it can get too!

From Bite To Body: Feeling TMD Everywhere

Referred pain is a condition where a problem in one part of the body is causing discomfort somewhere else. Take a bad foot for example: you might not be walking right, which causes pain in your hip and back as well.

It’s the same with your jaw – if it’s not allowed to function properly you WILL feel it elsewhere in your body. Where, when, and how severe it happens will vary from person to person, but the pain will come eventually!

Muscles: Just Like Dominos

Don’t think of a muscle as an isolated element of your body: think of each one as a puzzle piece that relies on all its neighbors to make things work right. When something goes wrong with a particular part of the body, like your jaw joint, it throws the muscles around it into disarray. They’re forced to adapt by acting in irregular ways, which in turn forces other muscles to change their behavior as well.

Before you know it you’re experiencing pain in your jaw, your temples, your neck, and your back – all because your jaw joint isn’t working right! The spread and severity of pain can come and go with your TMD symptoms, but all that stiffness and pain is maddening!

Feeling Unnerved?

All those facial muscles surrounding the TMJ are also near a lot of nerves as well. When your jaw is out of alignment and your muscles are feeling irritated or stressed you can end up causing problems for your nerves as well!

Plenty of TMD patients have reported numbness and tingling in their face, neck, chest, and arms because of their jaws, which can be absolutely terrifying.

It Taps Into Your Spine Too

Stiff sore muscles cause a lot of fatigue and strain on other body parts. In the case of your back and neck that strain can result in posture problems because of the way your jaw is pulling on the muscles of your neck and face.

Over time you can develop poor posture, constant backaches, and a strained neck – all because of your jaw joint! It’s hard to believe that such a simple sounding problem can do so much, but that just goes to show you how connected every part of the body is!

Getting Relief For TMJ Pain

At Really Smile Dentistry we use a series of advanced diagnostic tests to measure your jaw function and prescribe the best treatment for your unique case. From 3D imaging and X-rays to bite tests and visual exams, we’ll be able to expertly diagnose you and get you the help you need.

We specialize in neuromuscular dentistry at our Carmel office, a process by which we find how each part of your jaw and its muscles is acting incorrectly in order to fix it permanently. Using a variety of treatments we aim to eliminate your TMD, not just treat the symptoms.

We’re confident that we can deliver permanent, effective relief to your TMJ pain. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call us at 317-451-4050 or you can request an appointment online. We hope to see you soon!

Retrain Your Muscles To Eliminate Jaw Pain!

November 21, 2015

Have you ever woken up with intense pain in your jaw? Does opening your mouth too far trigger pain near your ears? These are both signs that you might be suffering from temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMD.

At Really Smile we can treat TMD but we don’t just want to relieve your symptoms! Many treatments for jaw pain rely on making you feel better without actually determining what the root cause is – we don’t want to leave you in that kind of position so we’ll treat you by retraining your muscles!

What Is TMD?

Your temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, is the joint that allows your jaw to open and close. Located right in front of your ear canal, it is a simple joint that is cushioned with a small bit of cartilage. There are a lot of reasons that you can end up with pain in your TMJ, which can end up developing into TMD if it becomes chronic.

Symptoms of TMD are numerous but they all boil down to a few basic issues: pain in the jaw, facial muscles, and neck. That pain is accompanied by trouble sleeping, headaches, clicking or popping when you chew, lockjaw, and potential swelling and inflammation around the joint. Our treatment goals are always first and foremost to relieve pain. Then we can start working on treating you to make sure it doesn’t come back!

There are a wide variety of conditions that cause TMD which is one of the reasons it’s so hard to treat properly! Arthritis of the TMJ, a bad bite, teeth clenching and grinding, and slipping of the cartilage disk in the joint are all common causes. It’s very common for treatment to simply involve addressing the symptoms and never treating the problem itself – that’s not the case at our Carmel dentist office!

How We Treat TMD

If you come to Really Smile because of pain in your TMJ we’ll start by taking a series of detailed X-rays and 3D digital images to get a super-accurate and detailed look at your jaw bone and muscles. We want to be able to get a complete look to rule out any potential issues!

We’ll be able to determine possible causes for your TMD and assess the best treatments for you in no time at all! Because all of our imaging equipment is digital we’ll be able to see results almost instantly, allowing you to get the treatment you need in less time than ever before!

Our TMD treatments aren’t just about helping you feel better. We aim to relieve symptoms and treat causes so that you don’t need to worry about discomfort in the future! The most common way to treat TMD is with a mouthguard that you wear at night. These guards are designed to cushion your jaw and relax your muscles so that you wake up feeling rested and comfortable.

While we do use these sorts of mouthguards we don’t believe that treatment stops when you wake up. We design out TMJ mouthguards to be used day and night so that you’re actually correcting your jaw. One of the biggest reasons that TMD continues to cause pain for patients is because you’re only treating symptoms by using a mouthguard for a few hours a day!

Most of the causes of TMD are due to your jaw muscles not being properly aligned. While there may be a need for additional treatment in order to correct your bite or fix a slipped cartilage pad there’s still the underlying cause: your muscles have been mistrained! We prescribe mouthguards that are meant to be worn day and night, at least at first!

By wearing your TMD mouthguard during the day and night you’re helping your muscles find a new home position that allows them to relax. It takes a while to retrain your muscles to work so differently but once you do you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel!

Our TMD treatments all aim to correct that muscle problem. Because it is the root cause of so many other symptoms and origins of TMJ pain it can also be the way to solve the problem for most patients!

Get Relief Now!

Don’t accept treatment for your symptoms when we can treat the cause! We’ll have you feeling better in no time and all it takes is that first phone call! If you’re ready to get permanent relief for your TMJ pain call Really Smile in Carmel today!

You can reach us at 317-451-4050 or you can request an appointment by filling out our online form. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Neuromuscular Dentistry: A Different Approach to TMD

August 9, 2015

It’s a simple joint, but it sure has a long name: the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ. It’s what helps your jaw open and close, enabling you to talk, chew, and drink. You might take your TMJ for granted unless you suffer from temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).

This painful condition can make sleep difficult, cause serious facial and muscular pain, lockjaw, and other unpleasant and painful conditions. Treatment for TMD has traditionally included mouthguards and aligners that hold your jaw in a comfortable position, but all that does is treat symptoms!

At Really Smile Dentistry we’ve embraced some of the newest technology to give you better results, and our TMD treatments are the same way! We use advanced neuromuscular dental techniques to not just treat your symptoms but find a solution as well!

What Is Neuromuscular Dentistry?

Your mouth isn’t just a collection of parts that all do their own thing! It’s part of an interconnected system of muscles, bones, and tendons that all work together to make the most complicated system seem simple and ordinary. When just one small part goes out of alignment the whole system can start to fail, causing serious pain!

Neuromuscular dentistry is treatment that keeps that in mind. If a dentist simply makes you a mouthguard you might feel better but you’ll never get better! We use a series of advanced diagnostic tools to get a precise understanding of the core problem, allowing us to treat your holistically and completely.

We’ll start with a simple visual exam to see if there are any obvious and easily treatable conditions that may be causing your TMD. We’ll follow that up with X-rays, bite tests, and other analysis that may be needed to figure out your unique situation!

Neuromuscular Treatment

At the heart of neuromuscular dentistry is therapy designed solely for you. We’ll use the diagnosis from your examination to determine the best course of treatment from among the whole of dentistry. Like we mentioned above, neuromuscular dentistry is a whole-body approach!

Depending on your circumstances and needs treatment can vary quite a bit. We will do whatever we need to when it comes to getting your permanent results!

Lifestyle and habits can be part of the problem, and our diagnosis can help us confirm that! Part of your exam will include questions about things you do that may be causing your pain, and that’s part of our diagnosis!
Missing teeth can cause shifting in your bite pattern, meaning that your jaw alignment is thrown completely off! Part of a neuromuscular diagnosis may include getting your missing teeth restored with either a bridge or dental implant. Each and every tooth has an important role to play in the structure of your mouth!
Bad bites are a very common cause of TMD. If your mouth just isn’t liked up right you never stood a chance! Using treatments like Invisalign we can help correct bite and tooth alignment problems.
Mouthguards and bitesplints are also a tool we use to treat TMD. You wear these when sleeping and your jaw will be kept in a safe, comfortable position that will also prevent bruxism, or grinding your teeth, while you sleep!

There are plenty other treatments that can be part of a neuromuscular dentistry plan, and it’s hard to fit them all here. Because your mouth is an important, complicated, and integrated system we have to be ready to use whatever we can to get the results you need!

If you’re suffering from TMD pain don’t wait around in discomfort any longer. Call our Carmel dentist office today at 317-451-4050 or simply request an appointment online. We look forward to helping you live happier soon!

End Your Headaches and Migraines with a Dental Solution

April 9, 2015

Do you suffer from headaches that you just can’t explain? Maybe you wake up with a headache every morning, or you feel a headache build throughout each work day. Did you know that the solution for that headache could be right here in our Carmel, IN dental office?

That’s right. Headaches seem like a general practitioner type of problem, don’t they? But actually, headaches are really difficult to diagnose. Many GPs just aren’t able to figure out what is going on without running a bunch of tests, which can be very expensive for you. In most cases, they will recommend a medication and send you on your way.

You need a solution, and for many headache sufferers, that means coming into our dental office. You see, your headache could be completely unrelated to your teeth, but there is a good chance that there is a connection, and we can find out in a single appointment!

Your Headaches Could be Many Things

As we said before, there are many, many things that can cause a headache. To know if your headaches could be related to your teeth, you can look for some other signs. For example, your headaches will probably show up around the same time of day or night.

The headache might also be paired with clicking, popping, or an achiness in your jaw. In some cases, the pain doesn’t stop in your head, but it will stretch down your neck and into your shoulder. You might even experience sinus problems or ear pain! It’s all linked to a problem with your temporomandibular joint, your TMJ.

A Thorough Evaluation of Your TMJ

When you come into our office with these types of complaints, the first thing we are going to do is take a look at your TMJ. We will take digital images, do a thorough examination, and ask you questions about the problem. It won’t take very long for the diagnosis to be clear, if it is indeed your problem.

Finding the Solution to Your Headaches or Migraines

Once we know that your headaches are indeed connected to your TMJ, we will begin looking for a solution. This is where those questions come in really handy! We can find out what might be causing your pain and give you a solution that will address the cause, not the symptoms!

Simple Solutions
We’ll begin by looking into simple solutions. For many of our patients, that means simply giving their jaw a rest for a few weeks by eating soft foods, avoiding chewing gum, and adjusting posture.

Other patients will be having pain related to stress. For these patients, we might recommend some stress-relieving exercises throughout the day or ways to relax their jaw muscles before falling asleep at night.

Office-Driven Solutions
We will always try those conservative solutions before trying anything more drastic. For some patients, we will find that the TMJ pain is related to a habit they never knew they had: grinding teeth! We can offer oral appliances that will protect your teeth and TMJ from this bad habit.

In other cases, we will find damage through the images we take. When we find that damage has advanced beyond a reasonable level, we will have to try more advanced procedures, like surgery, to correct the problem.

Set Up an Appointment Today

Your life should never be run by headaches. If the pain is getting you down, it’s time to consider a consultation or appointment right here in the office. We would love to see you, but more importantly, we would love to see you free of headaches and migraines!

Contact us today to set up your next appointment. Let us know what’s going on with your jaw, and we will help you find a solution!

Neuromuscular Dentistry Takes an Advanced Approach

March 8, 2015

There are many things about Really Smile that makes this one of the top dental offices in Carmel, IN. We have a great staff, state-of-the-art technology and techniques, a patient-friendly approach to dentistry, and so much more! The thing that really sets us apart, however, is our approach to your jaw’s needs.

We are one of the few offices in the area practicing neuromuscular dentistry, which is a relatively new approach that looks at all facets of your mouth, and not just your teeth and gums! We will look more closely at the neuromuscular approach in a few moments.

First, we want to explain how this approach benefits our patients, like you! You might be wondering why this is necessary, and why you’ve never heard of it before! Many dentists practice parts of this theory, but they don’t tackle the entire approach.

It will benefit you greatly, especially if you suffer from jaw pain or discomfort. Because we are taking an approach to your entire jaw, you will know that we are actually treating the problem, and not simply dealing with the symptoms. Most dentists can help you deal with the symptoms, but it won’t actually give you a cure to your problem. Neuromuscular dentistry, on the other hand, will provide both!

What is Neuromuscular Dentistry?

Neuromuscular dentistry is an advanced form of diagnostic dentistry developed in the early 1970s by Dr. Bernard Jenkelson and his son Dr. Bob Jenkelson. They believed that jaw pain was caused when your teeth do not align (fit together) comfortably. So, they set out to determine a way to measure alignment and to find the best fit for your teeth, but they didn’t stop there.

They realized that your jaw comfort is about much more than just your teeth! They also had to study the bones, muscles, and joints that hold your jaws together! Through this process, they found that when the jaw muscles are most comfortable, the bones, teeth, and joints will also be most comfortable.

How to Reach Maximum Comfort

Now, we sit back and wonder what to do next! How can a dentist correct the muscles of the jaw to end pain and other misalignment issues? There is a process that we would like to share with you next!

Diagnostics

We begin with a comprehensive exam that will look into all aspects of your jaw! We will use X-rays and various other tools to look at the bones, joints, and muscles in your jaw. We are also, of course, looking at your teeth!

Each of these components plays an important role in the way your two jaws come together to align. Without comfortable alignment, your jaw remains under constant stress. It has to work harder to open and close, and it works harder to stay in one place while it is in a resting position. All of these issues explain why we work to find a great treatment plan once we have a diagnosis!

Neuromuscular Treatments

Neuromuscular treatments seem similar to other forms of dental work. That’s because most of the treatments we use are common procedures, but we use them for a different purpose. Take orthodontics, as an example. You can get orthodontics from just about any dentist in the area, but they generally market those orthodontics as a way to improve the look of your smile.

We would use orthodontics to adjust the alignment of your teeth so that your two jaws can rest more comfortably together! While someone else might use veneers to improve the aesthetic quality of your smile, we would use veneers to extend your teeth to adjust alignment!

We might also use TENS, but is a form of electrical stimulation of your muscles. This treatment helps your jaw muscles contract and relax, which will make you more comfortable! We might also recommend sleeping with an oral appliance, which will hold your jaw in a comfortable position until we can complete the dental work necessary to achieve comfort without assistance.

Ready to Learn More?

Neuromuscular dentistry is the top of the line option for patients with any sort of jaw pain, but especially those suffering from TMJ/TMD pain. If you have repeated headaches, jaw pain, neck/shoulder pain, or facial exhaustion, it might be time to call us for an evaluation.

We would love to see you very soon to show you exactly what’s available to you! We can help you have a more comfortable smile, and it all begins with one phone call. Contact us today!

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