When you are dealing with TMJ (or TMD as it if professionally known), you are dealing with pain in your jaw that stems from grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw regularly throughout the day. If you have gone through a particularly stressful experience, or deal with a lot of stress on a regular basis, you may find that the side of your mouth hurts, and that you notice the pain when you open your mouth, or try to chew. The important thing to remember when you have TMJ is that you need to get your mouth looked at and treated by a dentist who has training in TMJ in Arlington. It’s not enough to just try and not grind your teeth or clench your jaw as much, you need to get professional help, especially when you notice the pain getting worse over time.
If you are dealing with a good amount of stress in your life, one way to treat TMJ is to go to your doctor to get stress-relief medications. If your stress is causing other issues in your life, such as body pain and emotional issues, you may find that the medication helps more than just the TMJ. Even if you go to your doctor and get medication that works, you still want to see your dentist so that they can see if there is any damage to your jaw or your teeth. They will take a close look at your jaw through x-rays and physical examinations to see what type of damage (if any) there is, and what needs to be done. In some situations, they may suggest that you use a mouth guard when you sleep; in other situations they may suggest that you get minor surgery done to help repair the muscles that are in the area.
When you are dealing with TMJ in Arlington, time is of the essence. The last thing that you want to do is to wait until the situation gets worse; you want to start getting treatment immediately. If your regular dentist does not specialize in TMJ, you want to find one that does. One option that you are going to want to consider in the Arlington area for both examinations and treatment is going to be Birth and Stewart Orthodontics.
