TMJ/TMD/Night Guards

TMD/TMJ Treatment for New Yorkers Near Central Harlem

When your jaw hurts, it’s all you can think about. Talking and chewing become tasks you have to concentrate on and get through. Rather than bringing you relief, sleep seems to make it worse. You don’t have to muscle through this. For TMJ/TMD, Morningside Dental Care’s dentist finds the best ways to treat your symptoms and guide your jaw back to its normal function. We know that TMJ pain is intrusive and distracting. Instead of resisting or ignoring it, we listen to what it’s telling us.

Do You Have TMJ or TMD?

Actually, everyone has TMJ! The abbreviation stands for temporomandibular joint. The TMJ connects your jawbone to your skull and is responsible for moving your jaw to speak, chew, and yawn. When this joint is damaged or inflamed, you develop TMD: temporomandibular joint disorder. TMD is caused by a variety of factors, including teeth grinding (bruxism), stress, arthritis, or trauma.

TMJ pain and TMD not only cause pain and discomfort in your jaw, face, and neck but also make your everyday life harder. You might get up feeling more tired than when you went to bed. Headaches could become an unwelcome part of your routine. Other symptoms include:

Difficulty Opening Your Jaw: You might feel like your jaw locks up.
Swelling: This points to inflammation in the joint.
Clicking or Popping: You may feel or hear unusual sounds when moving your mouth.
Ear Problems: Earaches or tinnitus (ringing in your ears) can be from your jaw.
Vertigo: Dizzy spells could signal that your jaw is inflamed.
Bite Changes: This includes difficulty biting down as well as misalignment of your bite.
Tooth Damage: Your teeth might start to hit in the wrong place.

Freedom from Daily Pain Starts at Night

At Morningside Dental Care, we don’t mess with classic treatments if they work, and wearing a TMJ mouth guard at night works for many patients. Effective jaw pain treatment targets the source, and for many, the source is bruxism. Our custom-fitted nightguards keep your teeth from touching and force your jaw to relax. With this one simple device, your jaw and your teeth are protected.

Even if you don’t grind your teeth, nightguards can still keep your TMJ from tensing up. They might even make it easier for you to breathe and can be used to treat mild sleep apnea. In the end, you won’t just have less jaw tension. You’ll feel like a new person thanks to the best sleep you’ve had in a long time.

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We Put Your Jaw Pain in Context

Treating symptoms helps alleviate pain, but our Manhattan TMJ/TMD dentist wants to know why you developed pain in the first place. When we examine you, we sit down and go over your stress levels, lifestyle, habits, and medical history. This allows us to create a more targeted TMJ treatment plan. We can discuss pain management options for arthritis, orthodontic solutions for misaligned bites, and exercises you can do at home to loosen your jaw muscles.

Don’t Let TMJ/TMD Pain Run Your Life

When our bodies are in pain, they’re telling us that something’s wrong. Our instinct is to find workarounds or to compensate, but if you experience headaches, earaches, jaw pain, and difficulty sleeping, that’s a message you should heed. Reach out to our Morningside Heights dentist to find out what’s causing your TMD and what solutions fit your symptoms and lifestyle. You can reach us online or at 212-864-7224.