A significant number of people suffer from jaw joint and muscle problems.

The jaw joints and muscles are some of the most utilized in the body. When they don’t work properly it can impact quite significantly on your overall health.

Thankfully, most joint and muscle disorders can be corrected with the right intervention.

What causes jaw joint problems?

Typically, injury to the jaw joints and muscles results in trouble. 

This injury can be due to accidents, assaults, falls sports accidents as well as abnormal habits such as grinding teeth, clenching, and jaw thrusting. Certain medical conditions that affect bones, ligaments and muscles can also result in problems.

What are common symptoms of jaw joint problems?

• Jaw pain around the muscles or at the joint
• Difficulty opening your mouth fully
• Clicking with pain
• Crepitus or grinding sound when you open and close your mouth
• Your jaw locks in an open position or closed position
• Headache or neck pain
• Inability to eat a regular diet, and restricted to softer foods

How do you treat jaw joint and muscle problems?

The first step is to identify what the cause of the problem is. You will have a detailed assessment of your medical history, dental history and habits. You will undergo an examination with a focus on the jaw joints, muscles and teeth, to determine where the problem may lie. You will also require imaging in the form of x-rays, cone beam scanning, medical CT scanning or even MRI scanning.

Most jaw joint and muscle problems require a team approach, which may involve any of the following practitioners:

• Maxillo facial surgeon
• Dentist
• Orthodontist
• Physiotherapist
• Physician
• Psychiatrist
• Pain specialist

It is important to take a holistic approach to treatment, and to understand that treatment may take time.

There is no single treatment that will work for every patient and you should allow your treatment providers a chance to tailor a treatment plan specifically for you.

Non-surgical treatment

Fortunately, a majority of patients find significant relief or cure from non-surgical treatment. 

This includes:

• Self-care
  • Soft diet – avoid hard foods, sticky toffees, chewing gum or ice cubes.
  • Stress reduction
  • Behaviour modification
  • Jaw and neck muscle stretching
  • Heat or cold packs to the jaw
• Medication
  • Anti-inflammatory medications
  • Muscle relaxants
  • Anti-anxiety medication
  • Pain medication
• Physiotherapy
  • To improve neck and jaw posture
  • Strengthen jaw muscles
  • Use of dry needling to reduce pain and inflammation
  • Laser therapy
  • Ultrasound therapy
• Bite-splint therapy
  • This usually helps for patients that grind or clench their teeth, the splint protects the teeth from damage
  • The splint can also relieve stress on the joints and support the jaw
• BOTOX
  • When injected into the muscles, can reduce spasm, pain and muscle tightness

Surgical treatment

This is reserved for a smaller number of patients and may involve the following procedures:

• Arthrocentesis
  • This involves placing 2 needles into the joint spaces to allow the joint spaces to be washed. In doing this, inflammatory byproducts are flushed out of the joint space and any adhesions can be broken down. It also allows medications to be injected into the joint space to allow for healing.
  • This form of treatment works well for patients that have a sudden inability to open their mouth or for degenerative joint conditions that are not responding to non-surgical treatment.
• Eminectomy
  • This procedure can be done to relieve a chronic closed lock joint. Where space is created to allow the jaw joint to move more freely.
• Open joint surgery
  • Can be done to reposition a displaced disk, recontour a joint that is damaged by arthritis or to reposition a chronically dislocated joint.

For more information on treatment please feel free to contact us or book an appointment.