Factors That Can Trigger a Flare-up
Stress is one of the biggest culprits of TMJ flare-ups. Stress often causes teeth grinding or clenching that can exacerbate TMJ symptoms. Another common trigger is eating hard, crunchy or chewy foods, such as raw carrots, crunchy bagels, tough cuts of meat, whole apples and nuts.
To help alleviate TMJ pain, minimize wide jaw movements, such as chewing, yawning, singing, and yelling.
TMJ disorders are most often caused by arthritis or muscle spasm, but they also can be the result of an injury, tooth or jaw misalignment, or grinding or clenching of the teeth. In rare cases, tumors – often non-cancerous – can cause TMJ problems.
TMJ symptoms last anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks. Some TMJ disorders can last months or years.
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.
Damage to the time-consuming joint accumulates over time, which results in chronic pain and other distressing signs such as jaw cracks, popping and locking. Inconvenience and inflammation can broaden beyond your joints and cause pain on the face, neck and shoulders.
Constant or intermittent pain in the jaw joint (TMJ), ranging from mild to severe. General jaw pain, which may or may not be accompanied by TMJ pain. Frequent headaches —a constant ache, throbbing, or piercing like a migraine. Clicking or popping of your jaw when you eat, talk, chew, or open your mouth.
TMJ is worse at night because that's when you're prone to grind your teeth and clench your jaw.
The Best Foods for TMJ Disorder
Anti-inflammatory foods – Eat a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, beans, and healthy fats. Turmeric and ginger also have anti-inflammatory properties.
Recurring jaw pain, stiffness, and reduced jaw function are tell-tale signs of a TMJ disorder. But sometimes, symptoms are much more visible. Facial swelling is a possible side effect of TMJ disorders, and it shouldn't be ignored.
An imbalance in your temporomandibular joint can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, teeth grinding, limited jaw movement, muscle soreness and can change the alignment of your jaw. When your jaw alignment is off, the effects ripple through your entire body.
Simple acts like chewing, talking excessively or yawning can make the symptoms worse.
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.
Since there are numerous causes of a TMJ disorder, its duration can also vary significantly. For example, TMJ pain might stay for two weeks and never return. Usually, TMJ signs will go away in no more than three weeks. But those caused by bruxism or arthritis can stay for a few months or even years.
The answer is “yes.” Stress can definitely contribute to TMJ, or even be a direct cause of TMJ.
The final stage of the TMD refers to a transformation of the temporomandibular joint to an extent that its function is substantially decreased or even disabled due to disease or injury.
Recovery Time
The good news is that most TMJ symptoms will clear up in no more than three weeks typically.
The soft tissue manipulation provides pain relief and speed healing. Adjustments from a chiropractor can resolve TMJ pain stemming from poor jaw alignment, stress, grinding teeth (bruxism), and jaw injury. The sessions will also relieve neck pain, tension, headaches, and cavitations (cracking and popping sounds).
One of the reasons that TMJ/TMD is so hard to treat is that it can be caused by many different injuries, lifestyle choices, and conditions. Unless you narrow down the cause of your TMJ/TMD, you may not get the right treatment.
Sometimes the main cause is excessive strain on the jaw joints and the muscle group that controls chewing, swallowing, and speech. This strain may be a result of bruxism. This is the habitual, involuntary clenching or grinding of the teeth. But trauma to the jaw, the head, or the neck may cause TMD.