Causes:
- Emotional factors such as anxiety and stress.
- Bruxism (grinding teeth during sleep).
- Physical injury.
- Absence of teeth in the dental arch.
- Degenerative Arthritis
- Inflammatory conditions
Symptoms:
- Clicking sensation, popping, or grating sounds in the jaw joint when you open or close your mouth or chew.
- Pain and discomfort in your face, jaw, neck and/or around the ear when you chew, speak, or open your month.
- Restricted movement, for example, jaw gets “stuck” or “locked” in the open or closed mouth position.
- Headaches
Recent studies have shown consistent results using physical therapy in cases of pain and limitation of movement from temporomandibular dysfunction.
Physiotherapy Treatment
TMD is quite common with about one in ten people showing signs of a jaw disorder. Non-invasive, conservative treatments have found to be effective. Physiotherapy treatment is highly effective in relieving and managing TMD, even when the symptoms are chronic and severe. Physiotherapy at Woodbridge have highly trained therapists that are used to assessing and diagnosing this condition. A thorough assessment and examination are critically important to ensure a correct treatment plan is implemented.
The treatment of TMD aims to reduce or eliminate pain, restore normal joint function, reduce the need for future treatments and restore normal vital functions.
What kind of Treatments?
- Self-care as resting the join, proper exercises, avoiding chewing gum, eating soft foods, and avoiding clenching or tensing the jaw.
- Stretching the jaw and self massage on muscles around the jaw.
- Soft tissue releases to affected muscle and joint mobilisation techniques. It is also important to treat any associated neck and headaches
- Ice to reduce swelling.
- Bio-Flex Low Level Laser Therapy.
- Dry needling
Low Level Laser Therapy for TMD Treatment
Low level laser therapy (LLLT) is used by our physiotherapist Derek Mernagh to treat the temporomandibular joint . LLLT is a non-invasive and non-surgical light source treatment, help to improve range of movement and physical function, can be used on all ages and has very little side effects.
The positive effects of the LLLT are significant:
- Reduction of inflammation.
- Pain relief.
- Accelerated healing and tissue regeneration.
How long does treatment take?
Treatments take about 30 to 50 minutes and should be applied two or more times a week
although the number of appointments required varies case by case.
