Manage Your Jaw & TMJ Pain by Lowering Your Stress Levels
Perfect Smiles is Your Trusted Moore Family Dentist
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) connects your jaw bone to your check bone, functioning as a sliding hinge. Like bruxism (teeth grinding), TMJ issues are primarily caused by excessive stress, often expressed in clenching the jaw. It’s common to feel jaw pains before realizing clenching is even occurring. Most clenching and grinding occur at night while we sleep. Inflammation of the TMJ can cause difficulty chewing, acute jaw pain, and even cause the jaw to lock up completely. The most common TMJ and Jaw pain treatments are physical therapy, mouth guards, aligning the teeth, and retraining stress responses.