In my previous article, I shared with you that one of our specialties is treating patients with temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD). This is a surprisingly common problem. Most patients, even those who have been seeing us for decades, don’t know we treat this! Not only do we treat this, but our approach is can be very effective at relieving the symptoms of TMD.
A brief review
To review, TMD very commonly presents itself as being a combination of articular (joint) dysfunction and myofascial (muscle) dysfunction. The muscles that allow proper jaw function are the external jaw muscles (masseter and temporalis) and the intraoral muscles (medial and lateral pterygoids). Trigger points can occur in these muscles for a variety of reasons. This might include clenching, worn teeth, missing teeth, thumb sucking, dental procedures, clenching from stress, biting fingernails, and chewing gum. And no, it’s not a typo, I put clenching in there twice. It’s that big of a deal.
Ice, ice, ice, baby
Previously, I shared that having the proper resting position of the jaw and tongue and practicing diaphragmatic breathing is necessary for beginning to treat this common problem. Now, I’d like to give you some self-care measures that can easily be implemented.
- Reduce inflammation: ice packs for 5 minutes or use a cryo-massage ball for 3 minutes to the masseter and temporalis muscles can help. (see the picture above).
- Decrease muscle spasms: to decrease spasms and relax the same muscles, apply heat for 5-10 minutes.
- Self-massage: to release tension, lightly massage the masseter and temporalis muscles with your fingertips (or make your spouse do it ;)).
- Sleep Better: To decrease tension in the neck and jaw when sleeping, use a pillow that allows your head to be in a neutral position whether you are lying on your back or lying on your side. Try to avoid sleeping on your stomach!
Hope this helps!