Are you suffering from throbbing facial pain? Or, are you chewing with great difficulty lately because of pain in your jaw? Then, TMJ disorder might be the one to be blamed. Due to cartilage damage or misalignment, it becomes problematic to close or open mouth. Even in many cases, the cause remains unknown. (1)
Getting to the Root of TMJ Disorder
The general symptoms include tenderness or pain in the jaw, clicking sound while opening mouth, and pain around ears. Your problems may be the result of suffering from teeth grinding, poor posture, gum chewing, or misaligned teeth.
Don’t be surprised to know that stress is one of the factors in this aching pain. If you had been going through a stressful situation, the pain may appear. (2)
Additionally, the pain is further aggravated by lifting a heavy object or overusing jaw muscle. If you grind or clench your teeth too much, the problem may worsen.
Do you think you have TMJ syndrome?
It is found that the pain hits women more than men – more than 10 million women sufferers in the world. (3)
The discomfort around your jaw may go away eventually without undertaking any precautions. So one approach is simply to wait it out. (4)
You can opt for exercising and controlling the habit of teeth-clenching for getting rid of the pain. Of course, it is wise to deal with anxiety or stress, if that is the case.
For traditional TMJ pain management, seek medical help. Go for TMJ diagnosis to avoid critical or permanent damage to the jaw.
Self-Diagnose TMJ Pain at Home
Doctors often prescribe physical therapy, surgery, botox injections, or dental splints.
After getting a health-checkup, the healthcare professional may however suggest some self-care techniques instead of going for surgeries. It is easy to follow these home remedies.
Choose Moist Heat
One procedure is to apply moist heat in the painful area. Wrap a moist towel around a hot water bottle or heat pack for alleviating pain. Do not go for a piping hot water bottle, there is a risk of burning yourself. Keep doing it for 15-20 minutes (for 2-4 times) per day.
Do Goldfish Exercise
Have you seen a goldfish opening and closing its mouth? You may have to become a goldfish only for the sake of keeping the tongue on your roof of the mouth. And, place a finger on the TMJ and place another finger on the chin. Then, you need to drop the jaw completely and put it back in the place.
A little variation of exercise requires putting a finger on your TMJ while dropping the jaw lower and putting it back in the place. To complete a set, you have to do it six times. So, six times of lowering jaw and back could give you some relief.
Avoid A Few Things:
● Avoid chewing gum
● Stop biting nails
● Stop sitting in bad postures
Apart from these three, you can rely on a soft diet to relax your TMJ. Restricting large jaw movements like signing or yawning may help.
Resources:
1) https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/tmj/tmj-disorders
2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3556284/
3)https://www.1800dentist.com/lifestyle-concerns-and-medical-conditions/women-account-for-90-of-tmj-sufferers/
4) https://www.deltadentalins.com/oral_health/tmj.html