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TMJ Pain

There are several types of TMJ pain that encompass many problems that are often confused with other pain disorders. Without proper diagnosis, patients suffering from what is actually TMJ Syndrome might be treated for conditions they do not have. The more common of these ailments that have pain similar to TMJ pain yet are actually a totally different entity are:

Otitis media, which is an inflammation of the middle ear;
Temporal arteritis, inflammation of the temporal artery, which lies in front of the ear going up into the scalp; and
Migraine and cluster headaches, which are vascular-type headaches.

Treatment For TMJ Pain

TMJ Pain is what usually brings a patient to seek treatment of his/her temporomandibular joint. Yet the most diagnostic and important feature is the decrease in function of the temporomandibular joint. The function of the temporomandibular joint is described as follows:

Should have an incisal opening of approximately 50mm, which is the width of three adult fingers stacked on top of each other and
Should be able to open that distance without deviation, without pain, and without noise. Those factors are the functional aspect of the joint. The lack of function is the overlying characteristic of a temporomandibular joint disorder.

As a sidelight, surgical treatment of temporomandibular joints is often considered a "radical" surgery. Indeed, it is not radical surgery, it is a very commonly performed procedure to relieve TMJ pain. The best correlation to this type of surgery that is treated routinely is a rotator cuff tear of the shoulder or meniscal tear of the knee. People do not hesitate to have surgical correction of these problems, but people are quite hesitant to have temporomandibular joint surgery. This could be due to the lack of current information or just not being aware of the treatment modalities offered today.

People do not hesitate to have knee or shoulder surgery due to their limited motion and mobility, but many people suffer for years with inability to open their mouths wide enough to eat a hamburger or to even yawn, and TMJ pain is what eventually causes them to seek treatment. Restoration of the function of the temporomandibular joint is quite frequently achieved with modern surgical techniques with a resultant marked decrease or absence of pain.

For further information regarding your TMJ pain, please contact Dr. Simonton today.