TMJ and Head & Neck Pain

TMJ is a “catch all name” that refers to your Temporal Mandibular Joints. You have one jaw with a joint at each end, right in front of your ears. If you place your fingers in front of your ears and open and close, you can feel how your joints work forward and back. When you have a problems in either or both joints like clicking, popping or grinding, we use the term TMD or Temporal Mandibular Dysfunction!

Faulty or poor positioning of your TMJ’s results in a poor bite which can result in either/or sore, worn or broken (especially front) or loose teeth (gum disease).  If you avoid  biting by holding your jaw in other positions, you will have head &/or neck aches, often misdiagnosed as migraines. Your dental bite and TMJ issues must be evaluated by a well trained dentist to eliminate these possibilities. One of the more difficult issues, is this bad jaw joint relationship resulting in repeated chiropractic neck and back adjustments. If your adjustments do not “hold”, the mal-position of your bite keeping your neck and back from resolving.  My experience is that once the bite is harmonized with the proper position of the jaw joint (Dr. Piper classifications), chiropractic adjusted hold for a much longer time.

Each joint must function properly to avoid future deterioration and pain. When a good examination is done by your dentist, one must evaluate the position of each condyle (the part attached to the jawbone) and how it is located in its fossa (base of your skull). 

Figure 1 to the right is the correct position.

Important Considerations:

• how your teeth fit together when closed
• how they move from side to side when grinding or chewing
• how they move from front to back (incising)
• do you resist this movement (guarding or protecting)
• does the rubbing cause wear patterns on the teeth and chipping when the teeth wear thin
• sensitive teeth to cold or biting pressure
• gum recession or loose teeth (gum disease)
• is there any muscle pain or trigger points in your face, head &/or neck area
• is there clicking or popping in either joint when you open or close. The noise can be amplified by using a stethoscope or better yet, a doppler.
• does your jaw move to the side on opening
• are you limited in opening (should be 3 fingers placed into your mouth, stacked up and down)
• a previous history of orthodontics

Healthy Jaw Joint:

Figure 3: is a front to back (anterior/posterior) view of a joint assembly with the condyle against the skull bone.  This location is called the “glenoid fossa”. 

Figure 5: Front view of a healthy joint 

• Condyle is the lower jar portion of the joint that moves
• M = Medial (inside) pole of the condyle  
• L = Lateral (outside) pole of the condyle