We Offer Unparalleled Relief
1. Do you suffer from frequent headaches or migraines?
2. Jaw pain, popping, cracking when you chew or yawn?
3. Do you always have a stiff, sore neck?
4. Do you experience unexplained toothaches?
It could be TMJ disorder. And that means:
- No matter how long you have suffered
- No matter how many doctors you have seen
- No matter if you have been told you need surgery
Tuscarora Family Dentistry can help you find fast, effective TMJ relief without medications or invasive surgery!
Dr. Angelina Browning has invested in advanced training from LVI – the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. While there, she received world-class training in diagnosing and treating TMJ disorder.
How Did I Develop TMJ Disorder?
Life is stressful. The daily grind can often lead to a nightly grind–or bruxism, clenching and grinding your teeth. But grinding isn’t the only reason people develop TMJD. It can also develop as a result of:
- Broken teeth
- Nail-biting
- Using your teeth as tools
- Trauma
- Certain medications
- Arthritis
- Systemic disease
- Orthodontics
- Sleep apnea can even be related as a cause or effect!
And no matter what the cause, one thing is for sure – TMJ Disorder is painful, frustrating, and it can even be debilitating. Tuscarora Family Dental Care is here to help.
What Exactly is TMJ Disorder?
This dysfunction is caused by disharmony between your jaw joint and the way your teeth come together.
But that’s not all.
To truly treat TMJ Disorder and the headaches that come with it, we have to take into consideration the muscles and soft tissues that surround and work with your jaw joint. It’s a delicate and complicated system that is generally designed to self-correct. But add in stress, trauma, illness, or damage to one part or another, and the system becomes pushed into disharmony and imbalance.
The array of symptoms that result can be staggering and confusing – even to medical professionals. Symptoms can include:
- ‘Migraine’ pain
- Tension headaches
- Tingling hands
- Facial pain which can come from muscles or the jaw
- Jaw joint pain
- Back, neck, cervical pain
- Problems with your posture, especially a forward jutting neck
- Locking jaw, either open or closed
- Ringing in the ears or tinnitus
- Ear congestion
- Pain below or behind your eyes
- A bite that feels off and keeps changing
- Clenching and grinding
- A jaw that seems to jut to one side
- Sore and sensitive teeth
- Sinus pain
- Dizziness or vertigo
- Sleep difficulties such as insomnia
Clearly, TMJ Disorder is nothing we want our Berkeley County and other local friends and neighbors to have to live with!
How Do you Diagnose and Treat TMJ Disorder?
The scientific evaluation of the muscles as they relate to tooth and jaw function is a system called Physiologic Dentistry. It’s an approach that has helped millions of patients all over the world find the relief they need and deserve. It’s why Tuscarora Family Dentistry uses this approach to treat TMJ Disorder in all of our patients.
We start all diagnoses with a discussion. We want to understand what makes you tick and what might be leading to your TMJ issues. Please be open and honest with us. We are not here to judge you, scold you, or lecture you. Instead, we listen carefully and with compassion so we can develop the best plan to get you back to ideal health.
After we’ve gotten to know the specifics of your symptoms, we use advanced Cone Beam Computed Tomography (also called a CBCT scan) for a complete 3D image of your teeth, soft tissues, nerve pathways, and bone structure. With this technology, we can see the tiniest detail possible in a single, non-invasive scan right here in our office.
Once we understand your needs and concerns, we:
- Measure muscle contractions and movements with our BioPak technology
- Gently relax the muscles and determine the physiologic bite using our MicroTens technology
- Measure, fabricate, and fit a custom orthotic for relaxing the muscles and restoring the correct position of the joint
It’s all gentle, natural, and non-invasive TMJ treatment – and most patients find that relief is instantaneous!
