TMJ disorder causes

When you bite down, your teeth mesh together. The WAY they mesh positions your lower jaw in your temporomandibular joint, or TMJ.

If you jaw fits improperly in the joint, the muscles that move your jaw have to work harder. Remember the old “Hans and Franz” skit from Saturday Night Live where two guys dressed up in muscle builder costumes? Can you imagine your muscles acting like that, 24/7? Something has to give. If the muscles tire and go into spasm, you can get muscle tension headaches, frequently referred to as TMJ headaches. If the muscles don’t tire, and instead act like the Eveready Energizer Bunny, they keep going and going and….well, you get the point. In this case, the constant muscle contraction can cause premature wear of the teeth, broken teeth, broken fillings, or loosening of the teeth.

Which of these symptoms would you like to have? If you answered, “None,” you could benefit by a thorough check of your bite and how it affects your muscles and TMJ. I’ve been taking courses in this area of dentistry since 1980, and I doubt you’ve ever had a TMJ check as thorough as I routinely perform at a comprehensive examination.

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