Treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder

At present the problem of temporomandibular joint disorder becomes more and more urgent. The signals of dysfunction are joint clicking, cracking, jamming of the jaw joints, facial muscles lassitude, headaches and others. Even so, there could be no organic lesion of an articular head or disk as if with deforming arthrosis. But these changes may emerge later.   Patients often ask: “What is the cause of the joint dysfunction if there were no traumas and the teeth were timely treated?” The joint is a complex mechanism and consists of an articular head, appropriate glenoid cavity and articular disk like a damping spacer between them. Joint capsule reliably envelops the joint, making it stabile. The capsule is interwoven with muscles that move the lower jaw. All activity is led by the nervous system. The disturbance in any of the component parts results in the dysfunction of the whole joint. For example, on the rapid growth of teenager’s skeleton the muscles will reach their maximum strength only in a year and a half after the termination of the growth. As a result of rapid longitudinal growth of the lower jaw both joint capsule and ligamentous apparatus are overstrained, which may bring to the ligamentous laxity and articular head displacement. Wisdom tooth eruption may result in the repositioning of the lower jaw and the displacement of tooth. All components of the joint experience tension, the signs of the dysfunction appear. The compression and the gnashing of teeth (bruxism) are the scourge of people who live in the conditions of increasingly rapid pace of life and stress. And in this case the joint undergoes unphysiological load. There are also a lot of other reasons for dysfunction: brygmus, tooth decay, disproportional development of the jaws, odontoloxia and others. So how should we deal with the dysfunction and preclude such a formidable complication as for example arthrosis? First of all it’s necessary to conduct a detailed examination and find out what organs have changed their work and how much. Our medical centre provides the treatment of the TMJ disorder of a patient only after accurate clinical functional diagnostics. We analyze the factors that influence the work of temporomandibular joint: the condition of muscles, joint capsule, disk, lower jaw mobility, bite, blocking contacts and others. The dysfunction is treated with special gum shields. The comprehensive approach such as this one makes it possible not only to detect and eliminate the dysfunction but also to design a dentition as harmoniously as possible. It’s a guarantee of long and successful life of your teeth!