RELIEVE YOUR CHRONIC PAIN WITH KNOXVILLE TMJ THERAPY
Does your jaw consistently feel stiff and sore? Does it pop, click, or even become “locked-up” from time to time? Do you suffer from chronic migraines or ear aches? If any of this is familiar, it could all be because of a strained or injured TMJ, or temporomandibular joint. This refers to the small set of hinges that allows your jaw to move fluidly whenever you speak or eat. When your TMJ is not working properly, it can cause a wide variety of problems, such as the ones we listed above. Fortunately, the team at Cornerstone Dental Arts is able to diagnose and treat these kinds of issues with relative ease, assuring that your chronic pain will be a distant memory in no time.
EQUILIBRATION/OCCLUSAL ADJUSTMENT
When a TMJ is slightly misaligned, it can cause the teeth to come together incorrectly, putting a tremendous amount of pressure on very small areas of enamel. This can make the teeth actually shift within their sockets, which can be very painful. To fix this, we can perform something called and equilibration/occlusal adjustment. For this, we’ll use an impression of your teeth to determine your problem areas, and then we’ll gently reshape your teeth so that they’ll come together smoothly and pain-free.
OCCLUSAL SPLINTS
An occlusal splint is a small orthotic mouthpiece that can help treat TMJ pain by slightly adjusting the resting position of the jaw. You’ll only have to wear it to bed, and it will gently shift your jaw so that the muscles can relax into a more natural and functional orientation. After a few months, your jaw should be able to stay in this new position on its own, and you won’t need to wear the mouthpiece anymore.
TENS MACHINE
A TENS machine is a device that uses very low-frequency electronic pulses to gently massage strained TMJ muscles. Many people say the treatment feels like a very soothing massage. We’ll simply attach small electrodes to your face, and this will allow the machine to lightly stimulate your jaw. This will help the muscles relax, and therefore relieve any pain you might be feeling. The treatment itself only takes a few minutes, causes no discomfort, and can provide long-lasting pain-relief.
NTI-TSS ORAL APPLIANCES
While migraines are usually thought of as extremely severe headaches, they can often be caused by a strained TMJ. The muscles surrounding the joint can sometimes become over-stimulated or misaligned with the joint itself, and this can lead to muscle tension and pain that often radiates throughout the entire head.
This can also happen if a person suffers from bruxism, which is a condition where a person unconsciously clenches their jaw and grinds their teeth at night. In addition to causing headaches, it can eventually wear down the teeth so much that they actually break.
To help relieve both of these conditions, we can provide you with something called a NTI-tss oral appliance. It will help stabilize the muscles in your jaw by holding them in a more relaxed position. This will allow the muscles to rest, heal, and naturally reconfigure themselves. In the case of teeth grinding, it also offers a protective barrier between the teeth.
NTI-tss oral appliances can be made to fit both children and adults who are dealing with this condition, and it is often covered by many health insurance plans.
BOTOX® INJECTION TREATMENT
Another quick way we can help address your TMJ pain is by using BOTOX. Long thought of as just a cosmetic treatment, doctors across all disciplines have been using BOTOX for years as a pain reliever. When used for TMJ therapy, it can be applied directly to the jaw muscles that are causing pain. This will prevent them from moving and straining themselves unconsciously. The treatment itself only takes about 10 minutes and a few painless injections, but the results are almost instant, and they can easily last for several months.
TMJ pain is often a subject many people are not familiar with, which is why many sufferers have trouble finding relief for their sore jaws and chronic headaches.
If your teeth are looking worn down and if you can’t figure out why your head is pounding every day, it could very well be because of your TMJ. At Cornerstone Dental Arts, we’ll be able to diagnose the root cause of your problems, and then we can quickly treat them.