Does this sound like how you’re feeling: a dull, aching pain around the ears, radiating to the neck, shoulders, and back?

One of the most common symptoms of TMD is a dull, aching pain around the ears, which can radiate to the neck, shoulders, and back; tenderness of the jaw muscles, headache, a clicking or popping sound in the joint, limited opening of the mouth, and facial pain are also common. Another curious symptom is ringing in the ear(s), sometimes coupled with a feeling that closely resembles being under water or up in the mountains.

Simply put, TMD represents the range of disorders of the jaw muscles and of the temporomandibular joint — the hinge at the side of the head that connects the lower jaw to the temporal bone of the skull.

It is estimated that as many as 60 million Americans … 30% of the US population … suffer from TMD. TMD affects four times as many women as men, and it is most often a problem for those in their thirties and forties.

TMD disorders frequently result when the chewing muscles, the teeth, and the temporomandibular joint do not work together correctly. Some common causes are braces, trauma, whiplash, stress, teeth grinding (also called “bruxism”), dental malocclusions, missing or sore teeth, and muscle abuse.

TENSION HEADACHES AND MIGRAINE HEADACHES ARE AMONG THE MOST COMMON SYMPTOMS OF TMJ DYSFUNCTION

As highly trained dental practitioners in the treatment of TMD, we have spent years learning and practicing the most advanced technology and research to bring relief to our TMD patients. The heart of our practice is to help you find freedom from TMJ and related symptoms – especially TMJ tension headaches and migraine headaches.

Our firm commitment to you, as our patient, is to provide relief from migraine headaches, grinding your teeth, popping and clicking of your jaw, fullness and ringing in your ears, as well as any jaw, face, head, or neck pain related to TMJ.

Our approach is a comprehensive program for treating TMJ problems such as headaches, jaw pain, and bruxism. We start with a complete in-office assessment, including computer evaluation of head/neck/ biting forces and their relationship to healthy muscle and joint positioning, specific splint therapy, massage therapy, laser therapy, and ultrasound. We back up this assessment with outstanding home products, such as a painless Microcurrent unit that gently helps heal muscles and joints and relieves head and neck pain.

For treatment information, visit our website, StopJawPain.com  or call our convenient Naperville Dental office today:  630 369-5225.

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois is dedicated to relieving pain and suffering from patients experiencing complex symptoms of TMD (temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction) and chronic headaches. Signs and symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorder vary in their presentation and can be very complex. Often the symptoms will involve more than one of the numerous TMJ components: muscles, joints, nerves and the teeth.

What are some of the TMD/Migraine headaches symptoms you should be looking for?

• Pain around the Ears
• Jaw, Tooth, Face, Neck and/or Should Pain
• Clicking or Popping of the Jaw
• Grinding of the Teeth
• Ringing or Fullness in the Ears
• Migraine Headaches or any other type of Headaches
• Sinus Pressure and Lack of Draining

There are 236 types of headaches.  The large majority of these headaches have a jaw joint or muscle component.  Our treatments reduce the excitability of specific cranial nerves.  By lowering this threshold the likelihood and intensity of mirgraines or headaches are diminished.

Is TMD  Curable?

Although TMD can become a chronic problem associated with permenant damage from trauma to the head, neck or TMD joint, the symptoms can be eliminated through proper professional care. The objective of our treatment is to gently and naturally bring the head, neck, jaw and bite into neuromuscular alignment.  In other words, the head literally teeters on the top of the cervical spine with the center of gravity forward to the spine.  It is tethered to the body by muscles of the joint systems.  Functional and resting head posture is dependant upon the proper tension in these muscles.  Movement of the jaw is not only related to the muscles for chewing,  but also head and neck position.

Here’s what is involved in our TMD treatment process:

A thorough evaluation and patient history, then a physical examination to discover the muscle hot spots or trigger points.  We will perform a bite evaluation using computerized equipment.  Then we use a series of office treatments including state of the art equipment and massage therapy.  Also included will be very important take home instruments to help you manage and divert early signs of headaches and migraines.

Our goal is to help you be pain free and improve the quality of your life!

If you have any further questions, or would like to schedule an appointment to meet our team and get started living pain free, please feel free to contact our TMD Director, Cathy, at 630-369-5508.

Snoring, Sleep Apnea, or Both?

Many people experience moderate to severe morning headaches. If you wake up with a morning headache, sleep apnea and snoring could be to blame. What is the connection between morning headaches, sleep apnea and snoring?

Sleep apnea occurs while you are asleep. People who suffer from sleep apnea stop breathing, often hundreds of times during the night. How does sleep apnea have a connection to morning headaches? The brain is literally starved of oxygen during these hundreds of nightly episodes. If sleep apnea is left untreated the continued “starvation of oxygen to your brain” can actually cause slight brain damage, so it’s no wonder that a person would get morning headaches from this!

One of the main reasons a person that is snoring has morning headaches is due to the snorer having untreated sleep apnea. A symptom of sleep apnea is chronic snoring. While you snore, the constant vibration of your throat tissue can cause damage to the back of your head and neck, causing your morning headache.

If you experience morning headaches, be sure to consult with your doctor. Morning Headaches could be an indication of a more serious health concern.