A Path to Better TMJ Treatment

UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT IS CAUSING THE PAIN, THEN YOU ARE ONLY GUESSING HOW TMJ TREATMENT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

There are many dentists, chiropractors, massage therapist, and physicians who will try to render TMJ Treatment to solve head and neck pain and dysfunction with varying degrees of success. Many patients have been to several other practitioners prior to finding The Orofacial Pain Center. Quite often the therapy has either not worked or the patient had limited success before the pain returned. Many times it is because the true source of the pain and/or dysfunction has not been identified. Often, TMJ treatment is focused solely on pain management and as a result never get to the source of the problem. Therapies such a massage, chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture or needle point therapy, splints (mouth guards), bite adjustments, nerve block injection and physical therapy all have their place and can relieve patients temporarily of pain. Diagnosis of the source of the pain should be the goal of the clinician, because unless you know what is causing the pain, then you are only guessing on how to solve the problem.

Many patients come to The Orofacial Pain Center having already sought TMD treatment from several different practitioners in various fields. This can include their family physician, ENT, dentist, oral surgeon, pain specialist, TMJ specialist and the like. In most cases there has not been a definitive diagnosis of their problem. There is often a lot of guessing at why the patient is suffering. Most patients have been told they have “TMJ” or that their problems arise from clenching their teeth. They are talked into surgery to “fix” their popping jaw or the need to “fix” their bite with orthodontics or bite adjustments. Many times the dentist will recommend a nighttime splint in hopes that this will solve their problems. None of these treatments are in and of themselves wrong, but they are wrong if the nature of the problem is not known.