Jaw Pain

Jaw pain is often diagnosed as Temporomandibular Dysfunction/Disorder or TMD. The jaw is a very complex and unique joint in the body. Mederi Health treats jaw pain caused by many different reasons:

• Prolonged mouth opening
• Gum chewing
• Blow to the face or jaw
• Neck injury
• Many times the reason cannot be identified

Commonly, what we discover is that the patient who is experiencing jaw pain is unable to open their mouth evenly. If you watch yourself in the mirror you may notice that your chin moves toward one side or the other in a consistent manner. It may seem subtle, but this is an important distinction. Often patients clench their teeth or grind their teeth at night. This is problematic because of the constant stress the habit places on the joint and its associated structures.

At Mederi Health, we want to know the whole person– from top to toes. So we ask our patients with jaw complaints to identify where their teeth are positioned inside the mouth when their are relaxed? Are they together or apart? Where is your tongue positioned in the mouth? The healthy answer is: when relaxed, your teeth are apart and your tongue touches the roof of your mouth. If your answers were different, you may have TMD or be susceptible to jaw pain– but our specialists at Mederi Health are here to help.