Located on each side of the head in front of your ears, the small triangular-shaped temporomandibular joints (TMJs) work together when you chew, speak and swallow. The TMJs also control your lower jaw as it moves forward, backward and side-to-side. If you’re suffering from jaw pain, soreness, headaches or tooth clenching/grinding, these could be signs of a TMJ disorder, often referred to as just TMJ. If you have TMJ, it’s common to experience limited mouth opening or difficulty chewing due to pain and locking of these joints. Our dentists Dr. Dimple Rayani and Dr. Sien Siao completed advanced neuromuscular dentistry courses at the prestigious Las Vegas Institute of Advanced Dental Studies focused on treating TMJ and malocclusion. There’s no need to suffer in silence, because Balfour Dental specializes in state-of-the-art TMJ treatment in Brentwood, CA to alleviate pain and restore your quality of life!
Population-based studies show that TMJ disorders impact 10–15% of adults, but only 5% seek treatment. This debilitating disorder affects women two to four times more frequently than men with a greater incidence of related disability. TMJ peaks around the ages of 20 to 40 and is associated with a significant financial burden related to loss of work. TMJ causes involve many factors, and it’s still not fully understood. Triggers appear to be biologic, environmental, social, emotional and cognitive. Although trauma, malocclusion and psychological factors play a role in TMJ, studies suggest they exacerbate the condition rather than cause it. As such, it’s believed that certain patients that are vulnerable to TMJ develop pain and dysfunction following acute physical or psychological trauma. TMJ is typically categorized by three main categories, with the first one accounting for 80% of cases:
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