HOW TO TREAT TMJ AND TMD

Let’s start with the easiest treatment options.

There are numerous TMJ and TMD treatment options available for TMJ disorder. Some you can do right now as you’re reading this article, others require needles and recovery time. Starting with a non-invasive treatment for temporomandibular joints (TMJ) is widely recommended amongst doctors and dentists. So, let’s start with the easy options before we move into surgery.

Learn more about TMJ

Find out what causes sudden TMJ Pain here: Causes of Sudden TMJ Pain.

How to treat the most common causes of TMJ and TMD pain.

The most common causes of TMJ are poor posture and stress.

To treat stress, we recommend consulting with a therapist who is licensed in the state you live in. Stress can also be the cause of grinding or clenching your teeth, even when you sleep! If you’re looking for alternative treatment options for stress, try meditating using guided meditations you can find on YouTube. Click here to see all the guided meditations for relieving stress.

To treat poor posture, we recommend paying attention to how you sit, how you stand, and how you pick things up off the floor! When you sit in a chair, don’t cross your legs, make sure you have good back support, and keep your head facing forward (not downward). When you stand, try to stand as tall as you can. When you pick things up off the floor, always remember to squat or go down to one knee and avoid twisting and turning.

If you need help correcting your posture, you should consult with a physical therapist or a personal trainer. If you’d like to get more information about postural retraining, read this: How Posture Correction Exercises Improve TMJ Symptoms.

How to treat the most common symptoms of TMJ and TMD.

The most common symptoms of TMJ are feeling and hearing popping and clicking sounds when you open and close your mouth, and pain or tenderness around your ears when chewing or speaking.

To treat popping and clicking sounds when opening or closing your mouth, we highly recommend seeing your dentist or orthodontist, seeking physical therapy, or getting medical massages from a TMJ specialist. Correcting this symptom requires a specialist to find out exactly what’s causing the popping and clicking in your temporomandibular joint and then taking action to eliminate or correct the source of the problem.

To treat the pain or tenderness in your jaw, face, or around your ears, there are a few things you can do. You can try relaxing your jaw and applying heat or ice packs to the sensitive jaw muscles, take over-the-counter medication for pain relief, remove or limit chewy food from your diet, or gently massage the muscles around your jaw (the sides of your neck, under the jaw, on the jaw joint, and around the ears and temple). If heat, ice, pain relievers, and self-massages are not effective, we highly recommend getting a medical massage from our TMJ specialist!

See all the symptoms of TMJ here: Signs and Symptoms of TMJ and TMD.

How to treat Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD):

The easiest way to explain Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD) is to say it’s TMJ pain that never goes away. If home remedies don’t seem to alleviate or eliminate your TMJ symptoms, you may want to consider meeting with a TMJ specialist to discuss more advanced TMJ treatment options. A TMJ specialist will use advanced, non-invasive techniques to treat your TMJ symptoms.

If your TMD is severe, a specialist may recommend more aggressive treatments such as therapy using radio wave therapy, or trigger-point injections. If your TMD doesn’t respond to those treatments, and it is severe, then procedures such as open-joint surgery, arthrocentesis, arthroscopy, or dental restoration may be recommended.

Featured on Virginia This Morning:

Jana Powell recently sat down with Jessica Noll from Virginia This Morning to talk about TMD.

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How to Treat TMJ or TMD Today:

Are you looking for a long-term solution to TMJ issues or jaw pain? A TMJ massage at Attune Massage Therapy can help you alleviate TMJ and TMD symptoms with customized treatment options, education, and more.

In addition to teaching you different TMJ exercises, Jana can also help you get same-day relief from TMJ symptoms!

If you are in the Richmond area, you can schedule your first TMJ session with Jana today!

For more information about Pediatric TMJ Massages, please visit: Pediatric TMJ.

This article should be used for educational purposes only (not advice, diagnosis, or treatment).

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