Jaw pain, TMJ pain and Osteopathy

TMJ pain can present as pain into your face, inside your mouth or into your head.  You may have pain when you chew, talk or open your mouth, and you may get a loud clicking noise when you open your mouth. It can be involved with grinding your teeth.

Why do we get TMJ pain?  It can be related to degenerative changes but in general you will be older! In younger people it is extremely common, and the cause is often due to trauma to the jaw such as a hit or knock, or very commonly from dental procedures such as wisdom teeth removal where the jaw is kept open in an aggressive position.  This strains the surrounding soft tissues, some small muscles around the joint and the joint itself.

Our osteopaths are extremely well situated to help with your TMJ pain because we can treat these strains.  We will improve the function of your jaw by improving its movement patterns and by reducing muscular tension surrounding the TMJ. We can fix your TMJ pain. We will also teach you how to stretch and avoid having an occurance of your symptoms as it is also related to stress and grinding of the teeth.  We may also get you to seek advice from dentists that we can recommend who may help with any night time splints.