The Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) is an extremely important joint because it is one of our most-used joints. Every time you chew, talk, or even yawn, you use your TMJ. We use our TMJ between 2,000 and 3,000 times a day. It is also one of the few joints outside our spine with a disc component. The simple description of the TMJ is that the mandible (jawbone) sits in a divot within our skull.
If you are an anatomy nerd like me, the next few lines describe the TMJ in more detail, but if you’re not, feel free to skip ahead. The joint is where the mandibular condyle sits in the mandibular fossa. The mandibular condyle is the point on the mandible that is made to sit in a fossa in the skull. In the middle of those two bony points is a disc. Since the TMJ is a ginglymoarthrodial joint, meaning it is both a hinge joint and a gliding joint. The disc helps the joint move fluidly.
Popping, grinding, locking, and pain are the four primary symptoms of TMJD. Like most other conditions, some symptoms may arise before pain. Popping and grinding are both symptoms that often happen early on during TMJD. Even before that, there is a change in motion. If you were to watch yourself open your jaw in the mirror, your jaw should move straight down. Someone with TMJD will watch their jaw swing or deviate from the center and not go straight down.
Several different things can cause TMJD. One of the most common is changes in biomechanics, such as muscular imbalances. Chiropractic has great success treating TMJ because we are musculoskeletal specialists who focus on movement or biomechanics. We thrive with conditions caused by muscular imbalances, like TMJD.
$99 New Patient Special
Includes consultation, exam, doctors report of findings, PosturePro analysis, and first adjustment.
How Our Care Plan Works
1. Better
No matter where you start, we can improve together. The first phase focuses on making progress in your current ailments. Typically, this means alleviating pain and helping you return to your daily activities as smoothly and quickly as possible.
2. Stronger
Now that you’ve made progress, how do we KEEP it? We’ve all experienced improvements, only to regress when our focus shifts. This phase empowers your body to sustain the hard-earned progress you’ve worked so diligently to achieve.
3. Healthier
True HEALTHcare! So often, we are only concerned with our sickness and dysfunction, seeking treatment only when we experience symptoms. This is SICKcare. During the healthier phase, we focus on your overall health and maintaining your well-being.
How We Treat TMJ Dysfunction In Fuquay-Varina, NC
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
Patients often visit the office with complaints of TMJ issues. Like all new patients, this process begins with a thorough consultation and examination. The consultation gives patients the time to explain exactly how they are feeling, what symptoms they are experiencing, how long they have been going on, and anything else they want to share. The consultation lets us fully comprehend exactly what the patient is experiencing.
Our examinations include palpation of the joint and the musculature around the TMJ, a Temporomandibular Biomechanics Evaluation, and a complete cervical spine examination. There is a crucial connection between the TMJ and the cervical spine, so to understand each patient’s symptoms, we need to examine both regions. Once we gather this information, we will know exactly how to attack each patient’s conditions and symptoms.
Specific Chiropractic Care in Fuquay-Varina, NC
Subluxation of the TMJ is essential to recognize due to the number of symptoms it can create, not just in the jaw but also in other areas. A subluxation in the TMJ can make everyday tasks like chewing or talking painful and uncomfortable. It can also create headaches, neck pain, and pain in other areas of the face. If the TMJ is misaligned on one side, it will impact how both sides of the jaw move.
Chiropractic is a superior treatment for TMJ issues due to its ability to influence the biomechanical components of the TMJ subluxation. Taking medication or injections that are anti-inflammatory or pain relievers doesn’t address the root cause of the issue, and only impacts one symptom of the subluxation. The adjustment can restore proper biomechanics and correct the problem in the long term to not only diminish pain but also decrease other symptoms.
Massage Therapy and Soft Tissue Work
Four separate muscles help move the TMJ, known as the muscles of mastication. These four muscles are the temporalis, masseter, medial, and lateral pterygoid. While exercises will help rebalance these muscles, some muscles are extremely hypertonic or tight and respond quicker to soft tissue mobilization.
Soft tissue mobilization may include dry needling, shockwave, and/or laser therapy, which help break down the tension in those hypertonic muscles. Decreasing this tension will allow the adjustment to work more efficiently and enable it to hold for an extended period. We use these treatments to supplement adjustments, which are the best tools for treating TMJ issues.
Deep Tissue Laser
Deep tissue laser is one of our most popular treatments for a multitude of ailments, but specifically TMJ issues. Laser works by supercharging our natural healing process. It enhances the cell’s mitochondria, or the cell’s powerhouse. The mitochondria create more ATP, an energy unit inside our body. Laser also increases blood flow and oxygenation, bringing more oxygen to tissues.
Ultimately, laser therapy increases energy, blood flow, and oxygenation. Our body heals itself by burning energy to increase blood flow and oxygenation. The laser increases our body’s natural healing process in areas that may not heal well on their own, like discs. The TMJ disc is one of the few discs outside our spine and often struggles to recover. By adding Deep Tissue Laser to our treatment plans, we decrease the total number of visits needed and increase the speed at which a patient will respond.
Custom Therapeutic Exercise Plan
There are four muscles on each side that help move the TMJ, known as the muscles of mastication. These four muscles are the temporalis, masseter, medial, and lateral pterygoid. An imbalance in these four muscles will result in TMJ dysfunction and potential subluxation.
When we treat patients with TMJ issues, we create a custom exercise plan to correct the imbalance. This exercise plan may include stretching the specific hypertonic or tight muscles and strengthening the weak muscles. Training patients to perform exercises independently is a crucial part of our care plan.
Common Symptoms of TMJ Dysfunction in Fuquay-Varina, NC
Difficulty Chewing
Finding what’s causing chewing difficulty is similar to analyzing a person’s gait. Analyzing gait involves watching how someone walks to see what’s causing the issues. When we perform a comprehensive examination on someone’s TMJ, we look to find what’s causing the problem and why the patient is having difficulty chewing.
An imbalance in the lower extremity musculature can change gait, just like an imbalance in the muscles around the jaw can cause difficulty or pain with chewing. Rebalancing the jaw muscles, getting the tight muscles to relax and the weak muscles to strengthen, will allow the “gait” of your TMJ movements to return to normal movement patterns and decrease pain while chewing.
Jaw Popping and Clicking
A few different things can cause popping and/or clicking within the jaw. Clicking can be an audible sound where you hear it, or a physical sensation where you feel it. A few different things can cause this clicking. The most common happens when the disc in the TMJ is displaced. The TMJ is a ginglymoarthrodial joint, which means it is both a hinge joint and a gliding joint. The joint has a disc where the mandible articulates with the skull. Since the joint is both hinging and gliding, it is common for the disc to become displaced or damaged, creating a popping or clicking sound when opening and/or closing the mouth.
Tension in any of the four muscles of mastication—the temporalis, masseter, medial, and lateral pterygoid—can also cause this clicking sensation. If one or more of these muscles is too tight, it can create a popping or clicking sensation with jaw movements. Finding and then releasing the imbalance of those four muscles will decrease the feeling and sound the jaw makes with movement.
Jaw Locking
Jaw locking is exactly what it sounds like: the jaw gets locked in its current position. This usually happens when the jaw is partially or mostly open or when the disc in the joint is completely displaced.
As described in the anatomy above, the TMJ is made as a hinge and gliding joint, meaning that the disc is responsible for transmitting a lot of force. The TMJ can become locked in that position if the disc becomes completely displaced. Jaw locking is usually painful, but not always.
Chiropractors are trained to treat this using a few different modalities to decrease the inflammation and then make adjustments to restore proper joint alignment. Following the release of the lock jaw, it is crucial to add a few stability exercises to ensure the joint doesn’t regress into that locking position again.
Jaw Clenching
Jaw clenching is a symptom for many of our patients who report TMJ pain and dysfunction. There are a few reasons people will clench their jaw, but often, it is due to poor stress management or decreased proprioception of the TMJ itself. These reasons are good examples of why we do a comprehensive consultation and examination on each patient to find the root cause of their dysfunction. We also work with each patient to arm them with techniques to manage stress and other dysfunction causes properly.
The habit of consistently clenching your jaw can lead to long-term issues. Jaw clenching creates extra wear and tear on the disc in the TMJ and chronic tightness in the muscles used to clench and chew. This tightness will take a minor TMJ issue and cause it to snowball and progress over time. Your dentist may also discuss the many dental problems that chronic overuse of the TMJ and muscles of mastication can cause.
Finding the root cause and how to treat the joint are crucial to creating lasting change in these tissues. We can use a variety of treatments like adjustment, laser, dry needling, or shockwave on these tissues.
Jaw Pain
Many things can be causing your jaw pain. The Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) is a ginglymoarthrodial joint, meaning it is both a hinge and a gliding joint. There are two joints on each side of the mandible, which means you can’t move one side without the other. Dysfunction on one side will cause dysfunction on the other side. Pain in the TMJ could be caused by dysfunction on either side of the jaw.
TMJ pain can also refer to pain from the cervical spine. Two common pathways are from Erb’s Point on the side of the neck or the Trigeminal Nerve. Both of these points can irritate the cervical spine and cause pain in the TMJ area. The first step to relieving jaw TMJ pain is to determine what specifically is causing the pain. Once this is determined, we can find an appropriate course of action.
We use various tools and methods to treat the pain, each geared towards specific issues. Our office specializes in biomechanical problems with the cervical spine and the TMJ. Correcting the biomechanics helps eliminate the pain and prevent it from returning.
Check Out Our Location Near You
609 Attain St #141, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a chiropractor in Fuquay Varina, NC, help with TMJ pain?
Yes. We have multiple providers and supporting staff trained in treating TMJ issues.
How do you permanently fix TMJ?
Our TMJ is one of our most used joints, estimated to be used 2,000-3,000 times a day. Because we constantly wear and tear this joint, we need to find a way to create long-term results. By integrating at-home exercises with our adjustments and other soft tissue modalities, we can find ways for patients to see permanent results and long-term solutions to their symptoms.
What causes TMJ to flare up?
Many things can cause a TMJ flare-up, especially the frequency with which we use the joint. Muscle imbalances, stress, and overuse can all be major contributors.
Can chiropractors crack jaws?
The chiropractors in our office are trained in TMJ adjustments and other modalities to treat TMJ issues. Depending on the patient, we also have different ways to adjust the TMJ. We can utilize manual or hands-on adjustments, the activator, or even drop tables.
What happens if TMJ is left untreated?
Leaving TMJ untreated rarely results in anything good. The symptoms will often progress in frequency and severity, leaving the patient worse off for procrastinating. The longer the issue is left untreated, the longer the treatment plan will take to improve.
How do you get rid of TMJ fast?
To quickly eliminate TMJ issues, we integrate multiple treatment modalities. The most important thing is to get adjusted ASAP, and we will add laser therapy and potential shockwave therapy. Adding these modalities at the right time is crucial to seeing expedited results.
Can you fix TMJ without surgery?
Over 90% of TMJ symptoms are non-surgical. Our office has seen many patients with TMJ complaints of all shapes and sizes, and none of our patients have been referred for surgery.
Is TMJ a medical or dental problem?
TMJ is often co-treated by Chiropractic and Dentistry. The cause of your specific issue will dictate which is a better fit. A dentist will be the right fit if the problem stems from a bite issue or toothache. Most issues stem from the disc or musculoskeletal issues, so chiropractic is the right fit.
What is a chiropractic adjustment for TMJ like in Fuquay Varina, NC?
TMJ adjustments are different for each patient. However, a few things are true no matter how we adjust: It is gentle, quick, and often decreases the pain after one treatment.
Can TMJ cause neurological problems?
TMJ issues are a major contributor to headaches, so we do a complete examination that includes a cervical spine examination.
$99 New Patient Special
Includes consultation, exam, doctors report of findings, PosturePro analysis, and first adjustment.
