Tricyclic antidepressants can help relieve pain caused by a TMJ disorder. You don't have to have a history of depression to take an antidepressant. These medications work by influencing how your body interprets pain. An example of a tricyclic anti-depressant used to treat TMJ disorders is amitriptyline (eg, Elavil).
Antidepressants can be prescribed for chronic TMJ pain, based on both known efficacy in neuropathic and musculoskeletal pains, including fibromyalgia, and their beneficial effects on comorbid depression and sleep disturbance.
Doctors sometimes prescribe medications to help control TMJ symptoms. Antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications sometimes help with TMJ. Tricyclic antidepressants can reduce your body's sensitivity to pain signals.
There are many potential muscle relaxants that can be used for TMJ. Two of the most common are cyclobenzaprine (Amrix and Fexmid) and diazepam (Valium).
A TMJ-associated mood disorder is not uncommon; physical progress is easier when you overcome anxiety. Many people dealing with TMJ find that it's a chronic pain issue. Any time that a person experiences ongoing chronic pain it is possible to have depression and or mental health problems develop.
Psychological Factors That Contribute to TMJ
People who are highly stressed and tend to carry that stress in their jaw muscles can experience muscle pain, damage their teeth, and stress or damage the jaw joints, causing TMJ to progress.
Because TMJ has such a wide variety of symptoms, even some that seem unrelated (link to Lesser Known Symptoms blog), TMJ can both cause anxiety and be caused by anxiety. There are some symptoms of TMJ, especially dizziness, tinnitus and headaches, that can be triggers for anxiety.
Bruxism may develop as an adverse reaction to antidepressant therapy, and is most likely to develop within 2–3 weeks of medication introduction or dose titration. This phenomenon may be seen in a variety of serotonergic antidepressants, and may be most associated with fluoxetine, sertraline, or venlafaxine.
Commonly used antidepressant medications—including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft—may cause bruxism and associated headaches, a new study shows. But findings from study published in January in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry also showed that adding the antide-pressant Buspar (buspirone) relieved the symptoms.
Diazepam has an average rating of 9.6 out of 10 from a total of 10 reviews for the off-label treatment of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. 100% of reviewers reported a positive experience, while 0% reported a negative experience.
Not as commonly known, stress and anxiety can impact muscles and joints, contributing to the development of conditions that affect the body's neuromuscular system. This includes disorders like temporomandibular joint disorder, referred to as TMJ, which involves the jaw muscles.
Overview: TMJ Pain mainly comes from the muscles getting in a spasm and can be relieved by taking Calcium and Magnesium which are natural muscle relaxants.
It is also true that antidepressants have occasionally been reported to cause tinnitus, and we know that they can cause teeth grinding, which can worsen TMJ. And yet antidepressants have also been widely used to treat tinnitus and TMJ.
The patient presents with jaw pain, teeth grinding and trismus commonly within a month of starting drug therapy or a dose change and which can resolve within 4 weeks of cessation of the medication.
Recent studies suggest that SSRIs may increase jaw-clenching because of their impact on the level of neurotransmitters such as serotonin in the brain. In turn, neurotransmitters control nerve sensors and emotions, but they also affect movement regulation.
There are reports of people unconsciously gritting or grinding their teeth while taking Paxil, Lexapro, and other SSRIs. This bruxism can lead to headaches, jaw pain, and cracked fillings or other dental problems.
Antidepressants Are the Most Common Cause
There are several types of antidepressants that have been associated with bruxism, including SSRIs, SNRIs, and lithium. SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, include Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, and others, including generic forms.
After analyzing the data, the authors found an association between deficient levels of vitamin D and the severity of bruxism. More individuals reporting moderate and severe bruxism were deficient in vitamin D concentrations than those experiencing no symptoms or other levels of tooth clenching or grinding, they wrote.
TMJ, or temporomandibular joint disorder, is not just a condition that affects your jaw and facial muscles. Recent neurological research has shown that TMJ can also impact your brain and neurological function.
Stress & Anxiety Can Lead to TMJ Disorder
Common symptoms of stress can be an inability to sleep, headaches, teeth grinding, and muscle pain. Because of the common link between stress and teeth grinding, it is easy to develop TMJ disorder as a result.
The link between stress/anxiety and jaw pain
Stress may subconsciously contribute to us clenching more frequently than usual, which creates more pressure within the jaw (or temporomandibular joints). Over time, this can lead to poor control of the muscles responsible for opening and closing the mouth.
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.
Press the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Place one index finger on the chin and the other on the temporomandibular (TMJ), the joint that connects the lower jaw to the skull. Lower the bottom jaw as far as possible. Close the mouth and repeat.