Do you ever experience tightness or tension in your jaw when you wake up? Do you ever suffer from mild irritation or extreme pain in your jaw? Do you have similar pain or discomfort in your throat or in your neck? If so, you could be suffering from TMJ disorder, which is often referred to as temporomandibular joint disorder.
As you may have guessed, TMJ can affect more than your neck and your jaw. In fact, if you have TMJ disorder, you could experience common headaches and even migraines. You’ll usually experience these headaches because TMJ makes it difficult for you to chew correctly. This places pressure in the wrong areas, resulting in these issues.
Your discomfort can also affect your ear, and can spread to the muscles in your jaw. Sadly, TMJ disorder can also make your TMJ lock in place. In other words, you could struggle to open or to close your jaw completely. Similarly, if you have TMJ, you could also hear strange noises, such as clicking or popping sounds, or a whistle. Sadly, while you’d expect these sounds to be uncomfortable, they can also be painful.
Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to address this problem. If you’re interested in learning more about TMJ, or about how you can address the issue, please don’t hesitate to contact Scott M. Healey Dentistry at 801.653.0099. Dr. Scott Healey and our team look forward to hearing from you soon.
