Chronic Headache Treatment and Jaw Health Support with TMJ Therapy in Westford, MA
You may be completely unaware of how much of an impact your temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, has on your overall health and comfort. These tiny joints on either side of your mandible can cause headaches, neck pain, shoulder discomfort, and even send pain down into your lower back. TMJ disorder can be treated in a variety of ways, either with a nightguard for teeth grinding or with neuromuscular dentistry care, both of which we provide at our Westford dental office.
Nightguards for Bruxism
Bruxism is just another name for teeth grinding and clenching. Most people who experience bruxism do it in their sleep, so they don't even realize the problem. The constant pressure and motion can harm teeth, as well as muscles and tissues in and around the jaw. A custom nightguard from our Westford dental office can help, though.
Symptoms of nighttime teeth grinding include wearing along the tops of your front teeth, chronic head, neck, or shoulder pain, and even earaches. The causes are generally stress and anxiety, poor posture, dietary problems, sleeping habits, or bite misalignments. Over time, clenching and grinding will lead to chronic TMJ disorder, and more serious TMJ therapy including neuromuscular dentistry care might be necessary. We can create a custom nightguard designed to absorb the pressure from the clenching and keep you from grinding your teeth.
Neuromuscular Dentistry for TMJ Therapy
Neuromuscular dentistry can help treat your chronic TMJ disorder, taking into account all the various ways that your jaw joint functions. We can have a physiologic bite appliance created to help with underlying bite misalignments that might be causing your TMJ disorder. TMJ therapy performed using neuromuscular dentistry techniques is based on the idea that even the slightest misalignment in your TMJ can send shockwaves through your system, leading to misalignments elsewhere and overcompensation of the muscles. This muscular overcompensation is what will cause the chronic pain, and TMJ therapy aims to alleviate this strain on your muscles. TMJ disorder is extremely common -- our modern lives are so hectic and stressful, it can be hard for us to relax. That's why we offer TMJ therapy at our Westford dental office. We can help alleviate the problems caused by your stress and provide headache and pain relief so you finally feel your best. We see patients from Westford, Chelmsford, Acton, Littleton, Tyngsboro, Carlisle, or surrounding communities.
