Suffering from painful jaw pain?  Sharp pain in your ears?  You may have TMJ…

TMJ (Tempro-Mandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome) also referred to as  TMD, is a condition that affects ones jaw joints and muscle groups causing significant pain that can radiate out to the inner ear, neck, shoulders, back and facial pain.  TMJ in many cases can also create lock jaw, where one is unable to open their mouth.  In other cases, those suffering from TMJ/TMD will feel and hear a clicking and/or popping sound as the open their mouths. 

Personally, I have experienced TMJ jaw pain 3 times in my life, and that was 3 times too many.  As I find out more about TMJ and some of the more severe cases, despite the excruciating pain I experienced, I feel fortunate in that my bout with the syndrome, resolved itself almost as quickly as it appeared.  My experiences were all the same.  I would all of a sudden, usually while chewing food on one side of my jaw, feel an extremely sharp pain in my ear as I bit down.  I likened it to be stabbed in the ear with a knife.  It was a pain that almost literally brought me to tears.  Fortunately, I could still open and close my mouth, there were no clicking or popping sounds as I did so, and if I didn’t bite down it wouldn’t hurt.  Unfortunately though, I actually feared eating anything.  So needless to say, I saw my doctor who diagnosed me with TMJ syndrome and prescribed to me an anti-inflammatory.  This worked quite fast in that the pain usually dissipated in about 2 days or so.   As I read more and more about TMJ, I do feel fortunate that my TMJ jaw pain was limited to these relatively minor incidents.  However, it is not something that I would welcome back into my life anytime soon!  Therefore, I find it useful to be aware of the causes and treatments of TMJ and TMD.  The prescription medicine did cure the symptoms, but did not address the cause.  So the best solution I have found so far is completing certain exercises that I will go over later in this blog, TMJJAWPAINCURE.COM.

One of the leading causes of TMJ and TMD is STRESS.  Stress can lead to a clenching of the jaw and grinding of the teeth (also called Bruxism).  Bruxism can occur either at night or during the day.  Teeth grinding and jaw clenching at night, or “sleep bruxism”, can often go unchecked as people do not know they are doing it.  Serious cases often lead to TMJ jaw pain.  Beyond the expected wear and tear on ones teeth, grinding also can cause dull headaches in the morning, to more serious issues with ones jaw muscles.  The clicking and popping noises that a TMJ jaw pain sufferer may experience are due to damage to the meniscus cartilage that acts as a buffer between the skull and jaw bone. 

Treatment options for Tempro-Mandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome include something as minor as a prescription strength anti-inflammatory, as I was given, to something a little more involved and serious as a bite adjustment (or  occlusal equilibration).  If left untreated, TMJ can lead to serious dental problems included cracked and loosened teeth as well as severe jaw, ear, neck and back pain.  Another treatment option is  Myofascial Therapy.   Myofascial Therapy reduces muscle tension, stress and pain by having skilled and knowledgeable massage therapists work the affected areas of the head, neck and jaw.  If you are a believer in chiropractic medicine, there are those that feel these doctors can manipulate the joints, tendons, muscles and bones that are out of alignment and could be the underlying cause of the syndrome.

Of course all of these methods (and there are more) come with a price, either a financial price or a price on our health (for those that believe prescription drugs can poison the body or at the very least are only a temporary solution).  A more natural approach, and at the same time a permanent approach is by doing certain exercises that will help alleviate the pain and likely prevent TMJ jaw pain from ever “popping” back into your life unexpectedly.  Look into this natural approach to relieve TMJ jaw pain for good

By: Chris Sloan

Jaw Pain/Clicking Jaw and TMJ Treatments | Best Syndication

BSN Stock Photo Neither pain emanating from the jaw, nor clicking sounds coming from one or both of them automatically signify temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD). However, since these tmj jaw pain

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