TMJ TMD Treatment in Ocoee, FL
TMD stands for temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder or disease. Ever wonder how you’re able to move your mouth to eat, speak, and yawn? We each have two joints connecting the lower jawbone to the face. These are the TMJs, and they let us open and close our mouths, in addition to some side to side movement.
At Smiles of Ocoee in Ocoee, FL , we’ve seen many patients with TMD. It’s not a pleasant thing to live with and can create many difficulties. The world is always trying to come up with newer treatments for TMD. At Smiles of Ocoee, it’s our job to contribute, participate, and stay updated so we can help our patients.
What Causes TMD?
Trauma to the face is the main cause of TMD. It can be due to a punch, fall, or any kind of accident. Trauma to the side of the face or the chin is more likely to cause TMD. Degenerative arthritis can affect the disc in the joint, leading to TMD too.
Patients who grind their teeth while asleep or are under a lot of stress subject their TMJs to a lot of pressure. In the long run, this can lead to damage. Unfortunately, sometimes there’s no obvious or identifiable cause.
TMD Treatment
There are several things that we can use to treat TMD. It’s always better to start with the least invasive treatments and work our way up to the more invasive ones. Mild painkillers and muscle relaxants are what we like to start with. In most cases, TMD resolves with these medications. They relax jaw muscle and halt joint inflammation leading to improvement.
A more invasive option is injecting corticosteroids into the joint. Steroids are very powerful anti-inflammatory drugs. They can be used in patients with locked jaws to provide much-needed relief. If all else fails, we’ll need to perform surgery.
Instead of traditional surgery, we like to perform arthroscopic surgery. Using a small tube with a camera at its end, we can operate on the joint without big incisions or trauma to the surrounding tissues.