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TMJ/TMD

If you have noticed tooth sensitivity or wear on your teeth, clicking or popping of your jaw upon opening, or sore muscles in your jaw, chances are you may be suffering from tempo mandibular joint disease. This is a serious disease that is often ignored by the dental profession. Without appropriate treatment this disease will progress causing irreparable damage to the joint and supporting structure of your jaw over time. Stress can be a trigger but it is not the root cause of the disease. In most if not all cases, the actual problem causing the various symptoms is a misalignment of your teeth in relation to each other, and to your joint. The muscles of mastication will pull your jaw out of alignment to create as balanced a bite as possible. This creates a lot of stress in the muscles and the joint capsule. Symptoms of this stress include the clicking, popping and pain noted earlier. The best treatment for eliminating this excessive muscular activity is to create a bite that is in harmony with itself and with the joint allowing the muscles to relax naturally, which eliminates the pain and stops the progressive destruction of the joint capsule.
If you have suffered for years with jaw pain, Dr. Austin can actually help. He has treated many chronic pain suffers successfully eliminating or drastically improved their level of pain. The level of symptoms and the actual causes of those symptoms determine the type of treatments that would be best suited for you. Once your examination is complete, Dr. Austin will review his findings and go over his recommendations with you. This process can sometimes take additional appointments based on the symptoms and the degree of your problem and complexity to eliminate the causing issues.