We call that the TMJ or temporal mandibular joint and that is a very common problem in dentistry. I would say half our patients have some sort of TMJ issue, some worse than others, and so there’s various different options that patients we can work through a plan. We do a TMJ exam every appointment to make sure you’re on track.
A night guard is where we usually start the patient off. Usually, in most cases, all of our TMJ patients that have pain there, they’re usually grinding or clenching their teeth and it’s like running a marathon on your jaw. It does horrible things to your muscles, your joints, your ligaments.
You can picture the night guard as almost like a splint, just like if you’re spraying something and it allows the joint to kind of calm down. So we take you through a series of appointments and follow-ups that we help your joint get back to health. And then a lot of our patients, they do have to wear a night guard sometimes for the rest of their life, but it’s a lot better than being in chronic pain.
- Protect your smile from teeth grinding
- Minimize headaches & other TMJ symptoms
- End jaw pain & tenderness with a mouthguard
