Serving patients of Erwin, Jonesborough, and Greeneville TN
Neck and back pain are things we’ve all experienced at one time or another. Sometimes a crick in your neck can come from sleeping in an awkward position. Maybe you lift something too heavy or the wrong way, and you strain your back. If your neck or back pain reoccurs, however, then the specialists at Tusculum Dental Care want you to consider that temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder could be the cause of your pain. Read on to learn more about the connection between TMJ disorder and neck and back pain, and how your neuromuscular dentists in Greeneville can help.
How TMJ Disorder Causes Pain
Your temporomandibular joint controls how your jaw and skull connect and move. If this joint suffers from a dysfunction of any kind, the nerves and blood vessels that surround it could be pinched or restricted. This intricate network of joints, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves could cause cascading effects throughout your body. These nerves travel from the jaw to the head, neck, and even the spinal cord, which is how TMJ disorder causes pain in these areas. For someone suffering from TMJ disorder, this pain often is severe and even debilitating.
Other common symptoms of TMJ disorder include:
- Problems chewing
- Toothaches
- Popping or locking (not the fun dancing kind) from the jaw joints
- Headaches
- Bruxism (the clinical term for teeth grinding)
- Muscle spasms (in the face or jaw)
How TMJ Disorder Occurs
The causes of TMJ disorder vary from person to person.
That said, the dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint is most often caused by one of these:
- An injury to the jaw or temporomandibular joint
- Crooked teeth
- Missing teeth
- Misaligned bite
- Arthritis
Dr. Craig Renner and Dr. Nathaniel Shepherd of Tusculum Dental Care cannot evaluate the cause of your TMJ issue until you come in to be evaluated. It may be hard to understand how an issue with a single joint could cause that much systemic trouble. However, you should know that nearly 3 million new cases of TMJ disorder are reported each year in America. Compare that one joint being thrown off balance to, say, one tiny cog throwing a clock off time. Or, how if you mismatch the yellow and red auxiliary cords on a TV, you can’t see or hear anything. That’s just two wires affecting multiple devices, and stopping the display of sound and visuals. The reality is, TMJ disorder isn’t going to cure itself. There is only so much that over-the-counter remedies can do to relieve the chronic pain from an ailment like this.
TMJ Pain Relief in Greeneville
Tusculum Dental Care knows that you just want to feel better. It can seem impossible to do anything if you’re living with chronic neck or back pain. It affects your sleep, how you complete your day-to-day activities, and your overall quality of life. Don’t live with chronic pain any longer. Dr. Renner and Dr. Shepherd of Tusculum Dental Care are here to serve our patients in the areas of Greeneville, Jonesborough, and Erwin, TN. Take control of your chronic pain and schedule a consultation with one of our TMJ doctors by calling (423) 639-7575 today.