The click-click pain
The pain in your neck may well originate from your jaw. Helen Grange looks at Temporomandibular Joint disorder.
.
For weeks 25-year-old Amy Kay had pain in the top left side of her mouth. She went to the dentist, who examined her teeth and took X-rays but saw nothing untoward.
Thinking it could be psychosomatic, Amy tried to ignore it, but the pain did not let up. “I would avoid chewing on that side,” she says. She went back to the dentist, but more X-rays again drew a blank. But the dentist noticed that when Amy opened her mouth wide, the jaw clicked.
She was referred to Dr Gys de Necker, a dentist with an interest in Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) disorder. This refers to the joint between the skull (temporal bone) and the lower jaw (mandible).
“He did an X-ray and took impressions of my teeth, then diagnosed TMJ disorder. He said the problem was that my upper jaw should’ve grown out more, and that it would take about three years to fix, with the help of a plastic splint that would help pull the upper jaw forward,” she says.
TMJ disorder is not widely known about, nor is it a discipline that many dentists include in their gamut of knowledge. Yet De Necker says about 90 percent of the patients he sees have TMJ disorder to some degree, though in many cases they just need medicines to alleviate the pain and relax the jaw muscles.
“The problem with modern man is that we do not develop the upper jaw to its full potential. This is because of our refined diets, which means we no longer need a strong upper jaw to tear meat.
“So the underdeveloped upper jaw traps the lower jaw, positioning it too far backwards, in turn displacing the condyles (the round end of the jaw bone). TMJ disorder is when the condyle disc (which acts like a hinge) keeps slipping out of place. The disc jumps off the condylar head towards the back, front or sides when you open your mouth. This jumping action is heard as a click,” he explains.
Ear Pressure Tmj - News
Other symptoms include difficulty breathing, clogged or itchy ears, lack of sleep, chronic tiredness, anxiety attacks, depression, heart palpitations and even hormonal problems. To determine TMJ disorder, a specialist will thoroughly examine the