Tempromandibular pains are on the most agonizing, stubborn pains to cure. The age of occurrence of this pain initially was largely limited to middle aged women but with the drastic changes in life styles of Individuals and a great part of our life, today being ruled by online activities & increased screen time, this pain is seen in a wider age range from 15 to 70 years of age.
The symptoms are highly variable too. It can radiate to multiple places like the forehead, lowe/upper jaw, teeth, neck region or at times even the shoulder. Most common symptom being pain in the ear, this is how most patients land up to consult an ENT specialist instead of a Oral Physician. Most patients experience variable symptoms like painful jaw opening, difficulty in chewing food, deviation of the jaw, pain in neck, clicking sounds in the joint, etc.
An oral Physician is highly skilled in examining these patients, understanding the nature, severity of pain and can systematically formulate a treatment plan. It is he/she who understands the complexities of such pain and among many factors that triggers its occurrence, can rightly point out the exact cause.
Due to a complex interplay between occlusion of teeth, muscles, bone, etc in the region of pain, examining these patients is a skillful job. Today, introduction of state-of-the art equipments like T-scan, EMG, TENS machines, CBCT imaging, examining these patients has become more precise and accurate.
Treatment of TMJ pain involves restoring the disbanced occlusion of teeth in the mouth and re-gaining the muscular equilibrium on the affected side. Counseling the patient too has a major role to play in the treatment as psychogenic stress is one of the causative factors of pain.
My personal experience in managing these patients at SnC speciality dental clinic has been a great learning experience. We have been treating these patients for more than 18 years now and more than 500 patients of TMJ pain have happily been rendered pain free. Our dedicated team is experienced and committed in working in this field since more than 1 decade.
