Over the years people who suffer from this disorder have been told that their symptoms were part of poor stress management or that it is "all in their head". This is partially true, since the joint that is dysfunctional is in your head. It's the joint between your upper and lower jaw, to be exact. Many people including, doctors, dentists, nurses and insurance companies, use the term TMJ as all inclusive for this disorder. TMJ stands for TemporoMandibular Joint. It's the joint located just in front of your ears where the lower jaw functions against the base of your skull (cranial cavity). This houses the nerve center that runs everything in your body, yet when they are dislocated, traumatized, dysfunctional, even arthritic, they are and have been for centuries, totally ignored by most of the medical and dental profession. They hold the key to the most preventive medical cures to come along in decades.
The joints themselves are the hinges upon which your lower jaw opens and closes so that you can talk, chew your food, yawn etc, and it's the etc. that often gets you in trouble. The TM Joint is actually a sliding joint and not a ball-and-socket like the shoulder or hips. The Mandible (lower jaw) is a single bone with two joints, one on each side of the head. The TM Joint is the most complex joint in the body, since placed between two bones is a disc that must glide and translate in unison as you open and close, or move your jaw side to side. This disc is made of fibro-elastic cartilage. Just like in your back these discs function as cushions and lubricants between and the functioning bones.
The TMJ is not as much of a joint but a muscular and structural engineering problem. Rarely does anyone come into my office complaining about their TM Joints. More often it is because they are suffering from a variety of referred symptoms caused by severe muscle spasms. These muscles are bracing against an imbalance between the upper and lower jaws. My feeling is that ninety percent of TMJ disorders come down to physics and the muscular reactions to the lack of proper support and structural engineering in the jaw joint. If you take these factors and add stress, gnashing and bruxing (grinding) of teeth, you have the ingredients for a TMJ disorder.
Being a former TMJ sufferer, I can appreciate the frustration and pain you are in. Over the past 32 years of my TMJ treatment practice, I have referred maybe three or four patients to surgery. With our non - invasive physical examination and conservative treatment plan, I believe we have a "CURE" for TMJ.
You may have heard it referred to as TMD (Temporo Mandibular Dysfunction) or MPD (Myofacial Pain Dysfunction), these disorders have different names, but they have one thing in common. People who have this disorder suffer a tremendous amount of pain in their daily lives. Believe it or not, some doctors and dentists do not even acknowledge that it exists. You can have a TM disorder for a long time without realizing it. That's because some of the symptoms, such as worn teeth or headaches, may seem unrelated to your jaw joints and muscles.
