Anyone with persistent headaches should be examined by a dental
expert.
The joint between your jaws, just in front of your ears, is
called the temporomandibular joint, but is known as TMJ for
short. Cartilage separates the surfaces of bone. The jaw joints
can sometimes cause problems, however, the dentist can help
treat these problems.
What are the symptoms?
Clicking noises when you move your jaw
Opening/ closing of the mouth difficulties
Swelling or soreness over the joint
Pains in the face, neck or chewing muscles.
In some people pain in the shoulders and back can occur
Headaches or migraines, particularly when you first wakeup
Earache, possibly with ringing of the ears too
Clicking or grating noise problems can be solved
by:
Cutting up food into smaller pieces
Avoiding particularly chewy or hard foods
Avoiding opening your mouth too wide, particularly when yawning
Joint pain is usually due to the increased tension
on the jaw muscles. Things that cause this include:
Grinding and clenching teeth
Habits such as chewing on a pen or biting your nails regularly
The above habits are often caused by fatigue
and anxiety. Painkillers can relieve the problems on a short-term
basis, but to solve the problems you can try:
Using relaxation techniques (see Hypnosis & Relaxation
section)
Giving up the habits above (pen chewing etc)
Wearing a biteguard during the night to lessen the grinding
of the teeth in your sleep
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