TMJ Doctor and His Treatments for the Condition

A TMJ doctor is a medical professional who focuses his expertise on the temporomandibular joint. This part is located in the head and it connects the skull to the mandible. The pain that is generated from this disorder is significant enough that a patient is uncomfortable or in pain until such time that the condition can be treated. The medical professional who treats such conditions can actually originate from the medical field or the dental field. This is because of the location of the mandible and where it is connected. Possible specialists for this disorder are dentists and neurologists.

The Cause

A TMJ doctor is likely to explain to his patients regarding the disorder and what causes it. One of the more noted causes of the disorder is bruxism. This is another condition that causes the individual to clench and grind his teeth while he is asleep. The position of the jaw when bruxism occurs may be too abnormal for the jaw to accommodate and it can cause some stress to the mandibular joints. Other causes may include, but are not limited to, overextending of the jaw, either to the side or forward. The train of overextending can cause the joints in this area to be stressed thus resulting to some inflammation. The overextension can actually be caused by exaggeration in speech or eating very large chunks of food which may be difficult to accommodate in the mouth.

The TMJ doctor will also probe to see if the individual's teeth are malformed or the dental treatments may have caused the person to unconsciously extend his mandible. The lack of an overbite can also affect the placement of the mandible which in turn can result to the temporomandibular joint disorder. These are one of the reasons why a dentist is a likely doctor who can diagnose the disorder or find it out. Other factors that can contribute to the condition are ageing and degenerative diseases which can affect the joints. As a person ages, the contact points between a bone and a cartilage tends to wear down. The additional space that is the result from this makes the joints loose. Degenerative diseases like arthritis can also contribute to faster wearing down of bone and cartilage.

Treatment

While painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs are the usual route a TMJ doctor takes to assuage the pain and discomfort, recent studies have found that these are not effective in actually treating the condition. Drugs with anti-muscarinic aspects are actually better in reducing the symptoms and the discomfort that come with it. Some patients also respond well to therapy. The therapy is focused on the way that they hold their jaws or mandibles together. It takes time but ultimately, this kind of therapy changes the way that the person moves his mouth thus making a more permanent mark on the disorder. Preventing bruxism is also an alternative that a TMJ doctor may recommend. There are devices that can be used to discourage the individual from gnashing his teeth while asleep.