A couple my wife and I enjoy spending time with were recently discussing her bad (unconscious) habit of grinding her teeth (also called bruxing) in her sleep. He said he sometimes couldn’t sleep for the sound of it.
She purchased a “bite guard” for several hundred dollars from her dentist which helped reduce wear and tear on her teeth and relieve her headache she usually woke with but it did not stop her from bruxing.
Because she had been a “grinder” for several years, she also developed TMJ.
For those who suffer from Temporomandibular Joint Disorder or TMJ, life is no picnic. This is a disorder which affects the temporomandibular joint.
This joint is what connects the mandible (jawbone) to the skull.
TMJ actually involves several components around the joint – teeth, muscles, tendons, nerves, bones, connective tissue, and ligaments. Symptoms can involve pain and/or dysfunction in any of these areas and likely more than one.
Causes of TMJ are as varied as who one should see to treat it since it affects so many areas of the head neck and face. Common causes include:
Excessive gum chewing, the aforementioned bruxing, trauma or injury to the joint, misalignment of the teeth (“off bite”), nail biting, and degenerative diseases of the joint.
Other symptoms include a “popping” or “clicking” sound when moving the jaw, sensitive teeth (due to damage suffered due to an incorrect bite), facial pain, earache, tinnitus (ringing in the ear).
Another result of TMJ can be hearing loss due to how close the joint is to the ear. The pain causes the muscles inside the inner ear that hold the ear bones to contract.
This in turn forces the ear bones not to move. Hearing loss occurs because these bones have to move in order to hear sound well.
This, in fact, is what was happening to our friend. It was her husband that pointed out that she was forcing him to repeat everything he was saying to her.
Hearing can be restored if the pain from TMJ is relieved. Pain medications can help to temporarily relieve this pain, however, all medications (including over the counter medications) have unpleasant side effects.
If you are looking for a natural way to relieve your TMJ symptoms and curb the habit of bruxing, I recommend my TMJ No More program. My programs have helped thousands, as client feedback has been overwhelmingly supportive!
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