I told my dentist about a pain in my jaw. He decided I have TMJ and keeps giving me Botox injections. While the injections help, I don’t want to need them for the rest of my life. If I went to a TMJ Specialist would there be a permanent solution?

Gina

Dear Gina,

TMJ Disorder can be very complex. Often, there’s more than one factor. If all your dentist is doing is the Botox injections without looking for what could be causing it, then yes, you’ll want to see someone else. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a TMJ Specialist as far as a recognized specialty goes. But, there are some things to look for when choosing a dentist to treat your TMJ.

You’ll want a dentist who has invested in post-doctoral training in the diagnosis and treatment of TMJ Disorder. Some of the more reputable institutions are:

• The Dawson Academy
• The Seattle Institute
• The Kois Center
• Pankey Center
• Las Vegas Institute (LVI)

Dentists who’ve studied with one of these institutions will be a practitioner who can help find the root cause or causes of your particular TMJ problems.

A couple of Causes of TMJ

One leading cause of TMJ problems is teeth grinding or clenching. Over time, this not only does damage to the hinge joint, but it is also devastating to your teeth. It can cause them to crack or break, requiring dental crowns. It can even cause them to come loose.

The grinding motion wears them down to nubs and could end up costing tens of thousands of dollars for a full-mouth reconstruction. To make matters worse, if you don’t regularly see a dentist you may never know you’re even doing it until it is too late. That’s because most people do it in their sleep.

Fortunately, for most patients, when caught early, there’s a simple fix. A night guard can protect your teeth. It fits like a custom made comfortable mouth guard and places a barrier between your teeth.

Another cause is malalignment of the teeth. If your bite is off, it can throw off your jaw joint leading to serious TMJ problems, including lockjaw. Sometimes, it is just a matter of simple orthodontics, other times it’s more serious.

A good dentist will always start with the least invasive treatment before moving onto other more drastic measures.

Best of luck to you.
This blog is brought to you by New Orleans Dentist Dr. Duane Delaune.