Headaches on the side of your head over your temples can be caused by a bad dental bite. The pain can be on one side or both and it is very often misdiagnosed as a migraine because TMJ Syndrome, like migraines, can run in families. A very high percentage of patients with TMJ Dysfunction (TMD) are women and the pain can be especially painful right before menstruation. Because of the tooth grinding commonly associated with TMJ Dysfunction, teeth can become sensitive to hot and cold and the teeth may even notch at the gum lines due to the stress placed upon them from bruxism. These notches are often mistaken for brushing too hard. In severe cases the grinding can result in loose teeth. The constant grinding or tooth clenching also causes the chewing muscles to become tender and sore to the touch. The soreness makes the muscles shorten which can result in limited opening of the mouth. In other words, the patient can't easily open to bite a sandwich and chewing can tire the TMJ Dysfunction patient out.

          A TMJ Dysfunction patient can have a grooved (scalloped) tongue due to the TMJ Dysfunction patient strongly pushing her tongue into the sides of her teeth. With time, a TMJ Dysfunction patient's teeth may begin wearing so that wear facets that look like diamond cuts appear. Sometimes a patient experiences jaw popping or clicking or even lock jaw. At times there will be ringing in the ears or even ear pain. It is not uncommon for TMJ Dysfunction patients to say that their family physician referred them to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor because of their ear pain and ringing ear.

          The body tries to protect an injured area so that a TMJ Dysfunction patient may hold her head unusually. This can result neck aches, other types of postural problems and TMJ dizziness. It is very common for patients with head and neck pain to have a forward head posture and these positional irregularities can result in a tingling or coldness at the tips of a patient's fingers.

          These TMJ symptoms often combine to irritate the TMJ Dysfunction patient so that she doesn't sleep well. However, a patient can have all or just some of the possible signs and symptoms. A TMJ specialist can help sort these things out.

          To treat any problem you must first know what is causing the problem otherwise something other than the cause can be treated. TMJ Dysfunction patients present with many different types of problems so that each patient is different. Generally however, TMJ treatment first begins with treatment of the muscle pain using a removable dental appliance and nutritional program developed by Dr. Padolsky and aimed at reducing muscle dysfunction. Most patients are helped within six (6) weeks. TMJ surgery is the treatment of last resort.

          TMJ Dysfunction patients commonly have several other medical problems that seem to go along with the TMJ Dysfunction Syndrome. These are:

          TMJ Dysfunction is usually managed, not cured. A TMJ Dysfunction sufferer must become the primary manager and in most cases, managing TMJ Dysfunction is a lifelong activity incuding TMJ exercises, excellent nutrition, and a balanced life. You must be aware of the things that aggravate your jaw ache and avoid them.

          Unfortunately, there are still a lot of different dental philosophies related to the treatment of TMJ Dysfunction. This makes receiving continuous care from different dentists extremely difficult and many dentists approach their ideologies with religious zeal. The result can be condemnation of their peers who believe in a different philosophy. This complicates managing TMJ Dysfunction even more.

          Dr. Padolsky takes an approach that assumes that the body will heal itself with some help. The less invasive the care, the better.

          Part of the difficulty of treating TMJ Dysfunction is that insurance companies refuse to pay for it which results in patients becoming very angry with their dentist rather than their insurance company. Medical insurance companies believe that TMJ Dysfunction is a dental problem and refuse to pay and dental insurance companies believe that it's a medical problem and don't pay for it.

          This is further complicated by the fact that TMJ disorder care is a very low profit area of a dentist's practice and involves a physician type patient approach that many dentists are not comfortable with. Taking care of jaw pain is not what most dentists were trained to do.

          If you are experiencing any TMJ symptom or TMJ problems and would like a Georgia TMJ consultation with Dr. Padolsky, call 404-874-7428 for an appointment.