Another aspect of having a tooth pulled out is that upon removal of the tooth, the bite on that side will experience an almost immediate collapse in which the jawbone (condyle) will now go more deeply into the socket. This is where a TMJ problem begins. When that condyle jams further up into the jaw socket, it will impinge on the articular disc that covers the condyle. This can cause a gradual displacement of the disc and subsequent TMJ disorder. If multiple teeth are removed this can readily lead to the discs being pushed way out of proper placement and this can be quite painful for so many people.

With periodontal disease, the bone and gum support around the tooth becomes weaker over time. This can lead to the tooth getting loose in the socket and it can no longer be a good vertical support for the jaw joints. Just like the foundation of a house, if it starts to rot away, the whole house can tip sideways. The jaw is similar. If the teeth become looser due to periodontal disease, this can destabilize the jaw joints and the discs in those joints can become damaged more readily. By maintaining good periodontal support for your teeth, this will help the jaw joints stay healthier and stronger.

Unfortunately, oral cancer should be mentioned in this blog. Cancer in the mouth can lead to loss of teeth and bone which of course can lead to loss of TMJ support. This is why it is so important to keep up with your dentist and at least yearly have them do an oral cancer screening. This screening only takes a few minutes, yet it could save your life and your health. So many people are very afraid of cancer but if detected early enough it is fairly easy to treat.

As Dental Health awareness month is April, be smart and reach out to your dentist about your dental health. Ask questions. Ask if they are checking for periodontal disease. Ask about cavities. And most importantly, ask if they are checking for any signs of oral cancer or other diseases.

The post How Oral Health Affects the TM Joints first appeared on Sleep & TMJ Therapy.

Some dental practitioners have learned that if you pull teeth out for braces, you could end up compromising not only the airway, but the cervical spine as well. What happens with an excision (extraction) of a tooth is that the face tends to draw back, which puts pressure on the airway- it basically causes the face to collapse backward, thus closing the airway more. In addition, this effect of collapsing the face backward changes how the skull sits on the neck, the cervical spine. Now imagine that if the cranial bones are not level and you pull out a tooth. This could cause the skull to become more asymmetrical, which could lead to more head and neck pain. It’s all connected- if you pull a tooth, or two, or ten, this could mess up your whole body. Sorry to be so technical, but hopefully you see the logic.

An awful analogy to this is that if you break your finger, you really do not want to amputate it, do you? It just does not make much sense. For some reason, human beings became complacent with the idea that you could just pull a tooth if it went slightly wrong. Today, of course, things are different, and we want to keep every bit of our body if possible. When you have a healthy smile, it not only affects your health, but it also affects your view of the world.

Speaking strictly from a cosmetic viewpoint, everyone is well aware that when you have a great smile, full of teeth, you are more likely to be confident about life in general and will have a better outlook on the world. A healthy smile makes us more attractive to the rest of the world and more likely to interact with others- in a healthy fashion! Not to mention, when we feel better, the endorphins tend to flow more, and this uplifts our spirits greatly. Bottom line is that when you look good, you tend to feel good, and this means a healthier mind and body.

The post A Healthy Smile Means a Healthy Body first appeared on Sleep & TMJ Therapy.