TMJ might start as mild jaw pain, but when left untreated, can get worse and lead to severe or chronic pain. As it progresses, you may start to have symptoms like cracking, popping, and locking of the jaw. You may also develop pain in your face, neck, or back.
If you're experiencing TMJ symptoms such as facial pain, headaches, neck and shoulder pain, and ear-related symptoms for more than eight days in a row, it's time to consider that you may need medical intervention.
If you don't seek proper treatment for your TMJ pain, there is going to be damage in the joint(s) that you had issues. Inflammation is your body's natural response to heal an injury. So, if your body is not healing pain (such as from TMJ disorder), your body will respond with continued inflammation until it's healed.
The Long-Term Damage of Untreated TMJ
Many people are dealing with symptoms of TMJ, but not everyone seeks dental treatment in time. Even though this dental condition might seem minor, the symptoms can worsen and potentially cause long-term damage to your teeth if you don't talk with a dentist about treatment options.
If left untreated, TMJ can lead to more complications that have long-lasting effects on your health. How can you tell when the pain is too much? If the pain is very annoying and it's limiting your normal everyday activities, that's when it's time to call the doctor.
More severe cases of TMJ can cause aching in the face, neck, shoulders, ears, and head. It may also be painful to talk, eat, or yawn. Some people may experience dizziness, impaired balance, or ringing in the ear (tinnitus). The pain caused by TMJ disorders will vary based on the root cause of the condition.
TMJ can also cause problems with the jaw muscles, leading to discomfort or constant pain when chewing, yawning, or talking. Additionally, TMJ has been associated with a range of neurological disorders, including headaches, dizziness, and tingling or numbness in the face or jaw.
Anyone who's suffered from TMJ pain knows how debilitating it can be. While it may start with a little soreness at the temples or popping when you yawn, it can quickly progress into daily migraines, difficulty eating, and permanent damage to the teeth.
In many cases, TMJ disorder, also known as TMD, responds well to home care techniques and other conservative, non-surgical treatments.
The following signs indicate that you may need to seek dentist care for a TMJ disorder: Facial, jaw, or ear pain. Pain in the neck and shoulders. Popping, clicking, or grating sounds when you open or close your mouth.
Most patients with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) are not considered disabled as the condition does not limit their life activities and resolves quickly.
However, this is not an irreversible condition, and with proper treatment, one may be able to cure TMJ pain permanently. For starters, you must stop any habits of teeth grinding or clenching, and anything that puts pressure on the joint.
For some, TMJ may mean nothing more than an annoying click or an occasional twinge in the jaw. For others, it's the beginning of a lifelong challenge that causes constant disruption that affects all aspects of one's life.
Trigeminal Neuralgia
It's easy to see why dysfunction in these nerves is often mistaken for TMJ disorder. When the trigeminal nerves are irritated, it causes sharp pain in the face, teeth, and around the ear, along with numbness or tingling—but only on one side of the face.
The truth is: it's both. TMJ is a complex problem that can have a lot of different root causes and can be part of the medical realm or the dental realm. The ideal situation is when both doctors are working in tandem, giving you the best holistic care possible that makes use of both their specialities.
An oral and maxillofacial surgeon, trained to handle a variety of diseases, injuries, and defects of the head, neck, mouth, jaw, and face. An otolaryngologist, also known as an ear, nose, and throat doctor or ENT specialist. A dentist specializing in jaw disorders (a prosthodontist, or prosthetic dentist)
Although surgery, injections, and procedures can work in extreme cases, more conservative methods such as bite guards and bite reshaping can be an easy and simple way to get relief from your chronic pain symptoms.
Internal TMJ derangement – Internal derangement is the most serious category of TMJ disorders. Trauma or a displaced jaw, among other causes, can precipitate it.
In other words, a TMJ dysfunction prevents your brain from sending and receiving the information it needs to function correctly. This disruption can cause imbalances throughout the body, including bones, muscles, airways, spine, and posture.
A variety of modalities can be used to image the TMJ, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), cone beam CT, ultrasonography, conventional radiography.
Other Causes of Jaw and Facial Pain: Certain other conditions including facial trauma, an abscessed tooth, or herpes zoster (shingles) can also cause pain similar to symptoms of TMJ disorder.
The adjusted OR for PD was 1.56 (95% CI = 1.13–2.15) in TMD patients compared to non-TMD patients in Study II (p = 0.007). This study demonstrated that patients with TMD have a significantly higher risk of developing PD and, conversely, those with PD have a significantly higher risk of developing TMD.