TMJ Treatment At Home
The good news is that many cases of TMJ respond to at-home care, allowing you to reduce or even eliminate TMJ symptoms on your own.
First, try to rest your jaw muscles by avoiding hard-to-chew foods. Don’t chew gum or non-food items. Avoid yawning and other activities that stretch your jaw. Apply heat to sore muscles and cold to sore joints. Not sure where the pain is? Cold is usually a better bet. Take over-the-counter pain medications according to the label instructions. Usually, anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen work best, but use what you’re comfortable with and what works for you.
But it’s important to monitor your symptoms under home care. TMJ cases that don’t respond to home care can get serious, so seek professional help if:
- Symptoms interfere with sleep or normal activities
- Pain doesn’t respond to over-the-counter medication
- Symptoms don’t respond or worsen under home care
- Symptoms last for more than a week
- TMJ goes away but recurs
In these cases, you need to seek professional TMJ care. Rochester Hills dentist Dr. Wolfe stands ready to help you when you need it.
Quick Relief from TMJ Symptoms
After a thorough TMJ diagnosis, Rochester Hills dentist Dr. Wolfe will recommend TMJ treatment that can give you quick relief from your TMJ symptoms. In addition to specific home-care instructions, Dr. Wolfe may design a special mouth guard that holds your jaw in a rest position that is good for your teeth, joints, and muscles.
This mouth guard will relieve muscle tension, which is responsible for most TMJ symptoms. This can reduce facial pain, headaches, neck pain, and more. The mouth guard also protects your teeth from clenching and grinding. This can help you avoid tooth wear and chipped or cracked teeth. By helping your joint stay in place, the mouth guard can reduce joint pain, irregular joint motion, and locked jaw.
Long-Term Relief from TMJ
Once you’ve gotten good results from TMJ treatment, we can talk about treatment options to maintain those results. Many people opt to keep wearing their mouth guard, which they usually wear only at night after the initial treatment.
However, you might want a treatment that lets you get rid of the mouth guard. Or perhaps you are looking to reverse the damage TMJ has done to your smile. In either of these cases, Rochester Hills dentist Dr. Wolfe might recommend full mouth reconstruction or other restorative dentistry procedures. These procedures can repair your teeth and/or build them up to hold your jaw in a comfortable rest position without the mouth guard. The result can be both long-term TMJ relief and a beautiful, healthy smile.
Looking for TMJ Treatment in Rochester Hills?
If you are tired of trying to plan your life around your TMJ, Dr. Wolfe can help. Please call (248) 651-0897 today for an appointment at Signature Dentistry of Rochester in the heart of Rochester Hills.
