TMJ &

TMD is a group of conditions (temporomandibular disorders) that involve problems with the TMJ and the muscles of the jaw. Clenching and grinding of the teeth can be a significant contributor to TMD and can cause wear and damage to the teeth. Treatment for TMD and clenching and grinding may involve medications, physical therapy, and the use of a mouthguard or splint, and may also involve surgery in more severe cases.

Headaches, facial pain and difficulty sleeping can be detrimental to your lifestyle as a whole. Simple, everyday things like enjoying your favourite food, listening to music or receiving a good night’s sleep can become almost impossible. This has the potential to negatively impact your work, social life and overall happiness.

Thankfully, there is a solution. Our team of TMJ experts and sleep therapy professionals are here to help. We will work with you to diagnose your condition and complete treatment to ensure that you can get back to fully enjoying each day.

What are the causes of TMJ Pain?

There is a cascade of events that take place that eventually leads you to have TMJ pain. The pain could be coming from several areas in the head and that is why we as health professionals need to perform a comprehensive assessment so that a proper diagnosis can be made to treat you appropriately.

These areas consist of the bones, muscles, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels, and the cartilage discs (cushion that protects the jawbone from rubbing on the skull bone). Other additional factors include lifestyle, breathing capability, one’s nutrition and how one sleeps.

A proper dental examination will usually consist of 

• Postural examination
• Muscular examination
• Cranial examination
• Dental examination
• Neurological examination
• A complete medical history screening.

Our professionals like to look at nutritional, toxic and stress related factors to help formulate a history and get to an appropriate root cause. We will look at range of motion of the jaw, speed and deviation of opening and closing, joint sounds, internal TMJ, inflammation and pain. Your sleep will be evaluated with a sleep study which we can refer off to or provide you with a take home test on the day. A sleep study will allow us to determine whether you may have a sleeping disorder which could be contributing to your TMJ pain.

A scan of your head and neck may be suggested to be taken if necessary for further clarity to see if there is any obstruction of your nasal or oral airway.

Our treatment plan may include orthotics or splint therapy and a range of adjunctive therapies such as myofunctional therapy to help alleviate the pain and correct the bite. If we suspect treatment is out of our scope, we will refer you off to appropriate specialists who will help.

Most people (around 80%) tend to improve dramatically with our treatment and stay healed. You will be equipped with ongoing tools that you can use in the future in case your symptoms arise again (provided they are due to the same causes).