TMD

If you experience chronic headaches and migraines you may be suffering from TMJ dysfunction

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (also known as TMD) can have a dramatic impact on your overall health. In many cases, TMD symptoms are a result of having an incorrect bite (malocclusion). This means that your upper and lower teeth do not close together correctly and this misalignment is causing trauma. This trauma manifests itself in a number of different symptoms.

The symptoms of TMD can include:

• Headache, jaw, or facial pain
• Neck, shoulder and back pain
• Clicking, popping or grating sounds in the jaw joint
• Snoring or trouble sleeping
• Ear pain
• Grinding teeth (bruxism)
• Clenching teeth
• Sensitive teeth

Diagnosing TMD

Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMD) can be difficult to detect, not least of all because the symptoms are so common place. Who hasn’t woken up on occasion feeling a little sore or tired? Not to mention the fact that with a few exceptions TMD has similarities to other illnesses.

Grinding your teeth is both a symptom and a problem—that is to say; it has symptoms of its own such as:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Missing or crooked teeth
• Misaligned bite

Knowing that headaches, fatigue, snoring and ear pain are all signs of a much bigger problem is the first step to getting treatment. If you are suffering from any of the symptoms—or more than one of the symptoms—mentioned above, the team here at Beecroft Dental Centre in Northern Sydney recommend you come and see us as soon as possible. We are able to diagnose health issues such as TMD and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and prescribe the best treatment for your individual case.

Treatment of TMD can involve the use of oral appliance therapy

The symptoms you present will determine how the team here at Beecroft Dental Centre treat you. Oral appliance therapy is used to bring your bite into proper alignment and effectively reduce or eliminate the distressing symptoms you are experiencing. While many cases of TMD can be solved with non-invasive oral appliance therapy, there are cases of severe TMD where oral appliance they may not work.

In the event that your TMD cannot be treated with non-invasive techniques, we do offer oral surgery for extreme cases of TMD.