Living With Headaches

Q. What is TMD?
A. TMD stands for Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. The Temporomandibular Joint is the technical term for your jaw.

Q. What causes TMD?
A. In the majority of cases, TMD comes from having an incorrect bite or malocclusion. Malocclusion means that your upper and lower teeth do not close together in the correct way and are misaligned causing trauma. Misaligned teeth cannot support your facial muscles correctly during chewing and swallowing. The muscles change to accommodate your malocclusion, causing a range of debilitating symptoms.

Q. Who Suffers from TMD?
A. Millions of people are affected by this condition. TMD affect each gender differently with females suffering more pain and men suffering more damage and general wear.

Q. I am in no pain. Do I have TMD?
A. Although a person’s teeth may appear to be straight and have no painful symptoms, it is the biting pattern of your jaws that can cause TMD. Although you may not be in pain now, that may change if your bite is affected further.

Q. What are the Symptoms to TMD
A. There are a number of symptoms to TMD and individual cases vary from one or two symptoms to all of the below list:

• Headache, jaw, ear, or facial pain
• Being unable to open the mouth comfortably
• Clicking, popping or grating sounds in the jaw joint
• Locking of the jaw when attempting to open the mouth
• A bite that feels uncomfortable or “off”
• Neck, shoulder and back pain
• Swelling on the side of the face
• Ringing in the ears or ear pain
• Decreased hearing
• Dizziness and vision problems or other similar problems