TMJ/TMD Therapy – North Raleigh, NC
Jaw Pain?
We Can Help
The joints that keep your lower jaw attached to the rest of your head are called the temporomandibular joints, or TMJs. If they’re injured in some way or suffer from excessive amounts of stress, you could develop a TMJ disorder, or TMD. There are many different ways a TMD can occur (and in many cases the exact cause isn’t always clear), but the result of ignoring it is generally the same: constant pain and difficulty moving your jaw correctly. Get in touch with Dr. Lisk as soon as you can to start the process of finding relief from your TMD.
Why Choose Dr. Philip A. Lisk for TMJ/TMD Therapy?
- Meticulous Yet Friendly, Relatable Dentist
- Carefully Customized, Durable Occlusal Splints
- Advanced Technology for Diagnosing Disorders
Diagnosis & Treatment
Many of the symptoms of TMD are extremely similar to those of tooth decay, sinus problems, arthritis, and gum disease. To narrow down the cause, Dr. Lisk will consider your health history and perform a thorough physical examination. He’ll check for tenderness, pain, difficulty moving your jaw, and unusual sounds such as clicking or popping. X-rays will likely also be required. Once a diagnosis for TMD has been made, we can figure out what kind of treatment would be appropriate.
Equilibration/ Occlusal Adjustments
If your upper and lower teeth don’t match up correctly, the forces of your bite won’t be distributed correctly either, and your TMJs could become strained or injured as a result. An occlusal adjustment procedure involves reshaping the teeth in strategic areas. The goal is to make it so that when you close your mouth, your teeth all make even contact with each other. This allows the muscles in your jaw to relax, which goes a long way towards eliminating the pain and sensitivity associated with TMD.
Occlusal Splints
An occlusal splint is like a mouthguard, but instead of protecting your teeth from external trauma, it’s designed to help guide the jaw as you move it from side to side and front to back. This helps the jaw find a more natural resting position, giving the joints and the surrounding muscles a chance to relax. Also, if your TMD is linked to grinding of the teeth, an occlusal splint will prevent the upper and lower arches from making direct contact with each other.
TMJ Treatment FAQs
Can TMJ Be Cured Permanently?
While TMJ can potentially subside over time, it’s still worth talking to us if you find that the condition is starting to seriously bother you. While some methods are primarily focused on dealing with the symptoms of the condition, the occlusal splints and equilibration we use are designed to ease the pressure placed on your jaw, permanently addressing the underlying cause of the condition. In a sense, these treatments are meant to cure you completely of your TMJ disorder, ensuring that you can feel completely comfortable once the procedure is complete.
Is TMJ Treatment Safe?
As with any treatment we administer, the procedures we conduct are completely safe so long as they’re done by a professional. TMJ is usually treated via very conservative methods before anything even remotely risky is attempted. This is in the interest of ensuring that you can start to feel better without putting you through any kind of surgery you don’t need. We will perform a careful examination of your Treatments like occlusal splints and occlusal adjustments are all minimally invasive, perfectly safe methods of improving the quality of your teeth.
How Long Does It Take for a TMJ Splint to Work?
Occlusal splints are worn to bed at night. While you might notice some of your symptoms improve soon after you begin the treatment, it will take some time before you’re completely recovered. After six weeks you should feel noticeably better than you did before, and the condition should resolve completely within three to six months. If this is not the case, or if your splint doesn’t fit you well, you might want to give us a call. We’ll be able to check on the state of your oral appliance, ensuring that it hasn’t been damaged or that there aren’t any other issues preventing it from working effectively.
How Long Does Occlusal Equilibration Take for TMJ?
Once your bite is properly aligned you can expect your condition to improve relatively quickly afterward, but how long the alignment itself will take can depend. Most people will only need a small number of appointments, anywhere from 1-3. These appointments will be fairly brief and completely painless.
We’ll be able to give you a better sense of how many appointments you’ll need, as well as what specific adjustments they’re likely to entail, once we meet you in person.