TMJ Pain and Headaches

At West Richmond Dental Centre, we emphasize the importance of the teeth as an integral part of your entire chewing system, which includes your jaw joint (TMJ) and your muscles of mastication. When teeth are in the wrong position, broken down, or missing, they can cause minor to very serious problems on your TMJ and jaw muscles. These problems can cause deterioration of the TMJ, which can manifest through clicking sounds when you open and/or close your mouth, limited jaw opening, or headaches in the temple areas. Disharmony between your TMJ and teeth can make remaining teeth become slightly or severely "worn down" and/or loose. It is a misconception that teeth wear down and get loose as you age.

In particular, whether one or all teeth are missing, the lack of support due to the gaps in your bite can cause misalignment in your joints, excessive pressure on your muscles of mastication, and further deterioration of remaining teeth.

So what is the solution?

The first step is a thorough examination and records, so we can determine the cause of your tension, tenderness, or pain. The next step is to develop a plan that will rehabilitate your remaining teeth and replace any missing teeth to establish a harmonious relationship between your teeth and your TMJ.

Signs Precede Symptoms

In some cases, patients have many broken down teeth, missing teeth, and misaligned teeth, however the patient functions just fine and has no complaints with their joints, muscles, or the effectiveness of how they eat. However, in many, if not all of these cases, the signs of deterioration are evident, whether it is on the teeth or in the TMJ. Continuous deterioration of teeth and TMJ can sometimes cause irreversible damage once the symptoms become evident.

back to services