Another approach, however, vastly different, is to use medications to calm the pain and at least get some degree of relief almost immediately. In some of these cases, the practitioner would prescribe Cymbalta to alleviate the anxiety often associated with the pain. Cymbalta is a well-known drug used to treat depression and anxiety. Admittedly, many TMD patients are hurting so badly that they become depressed, and anxiety sets in as they worry about how their future is looking. Unfortunately, this drug has a host of side effects that may make it not so worthwhile, but as a temporary measure, it might help for now. Some practitioners use Xanax along with the Cymbalta since it takes time for the Cymbalta to activate the desired response.

In other cases, something like Cymbalta is used in conjunction with injections into the muscles of the head and neck region to calm those muscles that have been irritated from the slipped discs. Injectables like Botox®, cortisone, prolotherapy and stem cell therapy have been documented to reduce muscular tension. This also provides some degree of temporary relief and may even help to ‘reset’ the muscles into a better pattern.

Of course, there are the surgical approach options. The least desired surgical treatment entails breaking the jaws and resetting them into a more ideal position, however, this approach may not work very well. Cutting apart the bones of the skull may be more risky than other modalities. A more conservative approach to dealing with the displaced discs in the jaw sockets entails simply putting the discs back on top of the condyles. A 20-minute surgery called plication. By far, this is more conservative and simpler than the other surgeries.

So as a patient, you have a choice: try to figure out the underlying issues and deal with them accordingly, or mask over the symptoms and hope things settle down. As I tell our people, it is up to you and I am simply here to guide you on the journey.

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The post The Case of the Confused Craniofacial Case first appeared on Sleep & TMJ Therapy.

Here we are in the middle of 2022, and I have to admit that every day I am in the office I see incredible things. At this point I am so used to hearing that our patients feel better, headaches are down and they are sleeping. This has become the norm. But every now and then it just does not work that way, admittedly, around 10% of the time I cannot help that person. And sometimes that is just because they need surgery to fix the problem. The more frustrating case is when I meet a new patient and the MRI shows severe degeneration and yet they feel no pain at all!

When there is severe disc displacement and the condyles (top part of the jaws) are eroding, it would only seem logical that there would be pain. Doesn’t that make sense? What I have learned over the years is the discs have been out of place for a very long time and the condyles are eroding due to compression in the sockets.

The body has set in the process of erosion to prevent the condyle from jamming hard into the socket. Think of it this way, most of the new patients I meet really should have had their teeth raised taller when they did braces so that the condyles would not jam up into the joints so hard. Yet, most people never had orthodontic work done in that fashion. The goal was to have their teeth made straighter to look good, a cosmetic case only. And now, years later, the shortness of the teeth has caused the condyles to jam up into the sockets, thus displacing the discs out of the joints. This is what I see almost every day of the week!

The way our body works is that it will always try to protect us from harm. Just like if you get a bacterial infection, the body fights back with chemicals to kill the bacteria. Well, when our body senses the condyles are too high up in the socket and are damaging the discs, sometimes the body will begin to erode away that jammed-up condyle to avoid pain. It’s really quite simple actually- our body is trying to help us. However, this so-called ‘help’ is not what needs to be done. What we really need to do is to make the back teeth taller to open up the joint space and reduce the impact of the condyle on the socket. I hope this makes sense. It seems to work quite well in some patients, but not so much with others. This is why we are human beings, there are many variables at play here. With certain patients, i.e., those with autoimmune disorders, for example, their inflammation levels are already quite high so it is more likely they will hurt due to slipped discs and degenerating condyles. With other patients who have little to no existing inflammation, they are less likely to feel the pain of their situation.

As you can imagine, some days it is difficult to figure out why one patient is hurting and the other just simply does not! Maybe this is what makes us human beings! Please give us a call if you have any concerns about your jaw health!

The post The Case of the No Pain Patient first appeared on Sleep & TMJ Therapy.

TMJ and sleep disorders are very common but not really understood.  This can explain why myths or misconceptions are out there.  The other side of this coin is this is also commonly misdiagnosed because symptoms vary from person to person and are similar to other problems.  One example of similarities is with Lyme Disease.  This is caused by a tick bite and the symptoms could be chronic headaches or migraines, jaw pain and tingling in the hand or fingers, notable symptoms of TMJ disorder. The big difference is Lyme disease does not have the clicking and popping or vertigo symptoms of TMJ disorder.  There are other examples as well; migraines, Trigeminal Neuralgia (short, sharp pain from touching of the jaw joint), or even a Ganglion Cyst (on the TM joint causing swelling and jaw pain).

Just remember all of us get sore muscles from time to time. The big difference is when the muscles in your jaw joints get sore and the soreness does not go away.  This is when you should ask your dentist for a referral. Otherwise, you could be prolonging the unnecessary pain or soreness and allowing the disc to possibly become further damaged.  TMJ disorder does affect other parts of your body. The myth of no popping or clicking means no TMJ disorder is not true.  These displaced discs can cause other symptoms of neck pain, backache, loss of balance, or hearing loss without the clicking or popping.

Another common myth is that TMJ disorder is harmless and that living with it will not cause problems.  It is true this condition is non-life-threatening but at the same time, it should be addressed.  Some possible development would be bruxism.  This process causes grinding of your teeth and clenching, wearing down your tooth’s enamel, and can cause sleep issues.  If the tooth enamel is worn down, then the potential of decay or tooth loss becomes greater.

For the sleep side of things, sleep can be interrupted by the clenching and grinding of your teeth.  Interrupted sleep or waking up unrefreshed is a symptom of both TMJ disorder and sleep apnea. It is not considered just a sleep issue.  The myth of sleep issues coming with age is not exactly true.  The aging process does decrease the tone in muscles and the airway muscles are not immune to this. The muscles in the airway no longer hold the jaw in the correct place and in turn, the airway becomes restricted. Your body is now fighting harder to breathe.  The use of a CPAP as the only treatment for sleep apnea is another myth.  The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has determined that an oral sleep appliance is very effective for mild to moderate apnea index.  This index tells us how many times your sleep is interrupted within a night.  The Epworth scale (tiredness level) in conjunction with the apnea index can determine if the oral appliance will be effective.

An interesting myth, sleeping on your side cures sleep apnea, actually helps with sleep apnea but does not cure it. By sleeping on your side, the tongue is not relaxed enough to obstruct the airway by falling back into the throat creating a blockage.  The tongue is off to the side allowing air to pass through the airway.  This is noted with mild cases of sleep apnea.  The side sleeping is most definitely not a cure but is recommended a lot for “positional apnea”.

There are so many more myths out there for both TMJ and sleep disorders.  Always consult with your dentist or physician when it comes to these issues.  You do want to address these symptoms because both these conditions will affect your brain and in turn affect cognitive functions, generating higher stress, and possible memory loss.

The post Myths about TMJ and Sleep first appeared on Sleep & TMJ Therapy.