There are hundreds of people that suffer from TMJ pain. The contraction TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint. There are non invasive as well as invasive TMJ treatment York PA procedures.
There are two main non-invasive treatment procedures. The first non invasive TMJ treatment starts with the doctor asking you, the patient, to rest your jaw. Warm compresses and some pain medication are prescribed to ease the pain. Resting the jaw comes highly recommended because it helps to heal the temporomandibular joints. If you suffer from temporomandibular joint pain it is highly advisable that you only eat soft foods. You should never chew gum or eat hard candy. Moreover, you should not open your mouth wide as it will only strain the gum.
The TMJ doctor will demonstrate to you how to perform gentle stretching and relaxation exercises. Stress reduction techniques are meant to help you manage stress and also relax your jaw along with the rest of your body. Gentle massages are also recommended to relieve pain.
In the second non-invasive TMJ treatment procedure, the doctor will fit you with a bite plate or a splint. This plastic guard is akin to the mouth guard used in sports. The splint helps reduce teeth grinding and clenching especially at night. The guard helps ease muscular tension.
Sometimes the non-invasive procedures do not work. That is, they do not reduce pain. Your doctor may then consider invasive TMJ treatment York PA techniques. The first invasive procedure can be performed under local anesthesia at the doctor’s office. In this TMJ treatment, the doctor inserts two fine needles into the temporomandibular joint so as to wash it. He/she connects one of the needles to a syringe filled with a special cleansing solution. The other syringe is used to draw the solution out. In some instances, the doctor injects some medication to alleviate pain. The procedure takes just a few minutes and you can go resume to normal duty.
In the second invasive procedure, the doctor injects you with cortisone medication. This helps to relieve pain and inflammation. The other type of invasive TMJ treatment York PA, the doctor performs surgery to replace the joints of your jaws with some artificial implants. This type of surgery is irreversible. It is advisable that you explore all available temporomandibular treatment options before you resort to surgery.
Other treatments the doctor may administer include performing restorative dentistry. Your teeth may also be grinded down so as to adjust your bite. It is important to note that all these procedure are irreversible. Moreover, they do not really cure the problem. They just offer temporary relief.
You can opt for non invasive or invasive TMJ treatment. However, since the invasive treatments are irreversible, it is advisable you try the non invasive ones first.
