Give Acupuncture a Chance to Stop Your Suffering from TMJ Pain

The statistics say that in USA there are 10 million people have trouble with TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint). In our clinic we can see that we in Canada are not far away from the USA statistics based on how many people are suffering from TMJ inflammation and pain.

In our clinical practice we help every patient to identify predisposition to TMJ, TMJD (Temporomandibular joint Disorder) problem. Acupuncturist is able to stop suffering form TMJ as well as prevent the occurrence of such harmful health issue especially in patients who show tendency to develop TMJ problem in a near future.

According to Contemporary medicine and Dentistry, there are many causes for either having TMJ or TMJD like:

• Jaw injuries
• Joint disease, such as arthritis.
• Tooth clenching or grinding.
• Tension of the neck muscles.
• Missing teeth on the one of the upper or lower jaws causes misalignment affecting chewing process and along with it the condition of other facial muscles.
• Partial or full dentures that are not the right fit.
• Certain poor habits such as fingernails biting, and pen or pencil biting could be the main contributors to build up the misalignment of TMJ due to a long-standing habit.

Our Clinical expertise findings:

• During Japanese medicinal body assessment, we gently palpate TMJ area, as well as facial muscles, neck and upper back muscles to identify any painful responses or obvious tightness as primary evidence of TMJ misalignment, inflammation or TMJD.
• The secondary evidence for initiation or already existed TMJ problem often shows in C1 subluxation or sphenoid bone shift.
• Our main target is to heal or prevent TMJ inflammation when found during health exam, especially in those patients that show predisposition to develop TMJ in a near future.
• In this case acupuncture strategy is focused on releasing the tension and strengthen the weakness in facial and neck muscles to achieve the symmetry and normal function.
• By applying acupuncture needles into specific points of the rhomboid muscles’ practitioner can eliminate friction of covered by cartilage articulated TMJ bones which often create annoying cracking sound, TMJ inflammation and pain.
• As end result the Temporo-mandibular joints are balanced.

TMJ Traumatic Injury, The Real Story #1

A young lady came to our clinic with a complaint of jaw pain, inability to open her mouth, eat and talk normally after having a strong blow of the baseball ball to her face. It was an acute injury that happened one or too days prior to her visit.

She said that yesterday she went to see her dentist seeking a possibility to resolve this harmful, awkward situation because not only she couldn’t continue to live with such a discomfort but also the next day after I saw her, she had to fly to a vacation.

The treatment took only 60 minutes. She left without pain, could easily open her mouth and consequently could eat and talk normally. I needled few points in the muscles located on her upper back to normalize the function of opening the mouth and some points on her face I used to balance the symmetry and eliminate the injury impact like she never had this problem in the future. And, of course, I had to eliminate the shock she received with the blow by helping brain to erase the harmful negative emotion she experienced from her memory.

TMJ Traumatic Injury, The Real Story #2

The patient, middle age woman booked acupuncture session. She said that prior to making this appointment she had chiropractic and physiotherapy treatments for a few months and her neck and upper back tightness and pain seem to feel a bit better. The only thing that really bothered her was the loud crackling sound in her jaw when she opened her mouth to yawn and during chewing the food.

After thorough body examination there were detected few health problems related to MVA experience. First – SNS, the sympathetic nerve system, adrenal shock acquired during the accident, the remains of neck whiplash showed taught muscles of the neck, sphenoid bone imbalance resulted in jaws imbalance.

Few points were needled on arms and legs to release the neck from the cellular memory related to the whiplash experience. Three points were needled to restore the adrenal balance. Two points were needled – one on the leg and the other on the forearm to re-establish the position of the sphenoid bone. One special point on the face balanced the jaws but the crackling sound showed that the right TMJ joint was too loose. Then the special points on the muscles of the upper back were needled balancing both jaws and the crackling sound slowly subsided to nothing. The problems were chronic so she had to come for 4 more treatments to consolidate the result and since then she decided to come for maintenance treatments regularly – once a month. Her mind and body both are in balance and gratefully giving her the feeling of health and wellness.

Conclusion

For TMJ injury or acute inflammation sometimes one treatment might be sufficed. For people who already have chronic TMJ problems 3-10 treatments are necessary. During acupuncture treatment patients witness how the pain and tightness are released to alleviate the discomfort and pain. Besides elimination of the inflammation and pain acupuncture is a strong tool preventing TMJ from developing inflammation in the future. For everyone who is predisposed to develop TMJ problem prevention is the key!

Clinical Relevance

TMJ is not only musculo-skeletal health problem but also neurological condition and often shows in patients who are under great stress, not able to withstand strong negative impact, easily become disappointed or frustrated. Stress is easily affecting liver and gallbladder. To avoid feeling stress you should know how your mind and body correlate. You can find useful information by reading pages 11-49. To understand about liver and what thoughts and emotions can weaken liver function you can read on pages 83-93 in my book, Your MindBody Alliance & The Truth About Acupuncture.

Our clinical experience shows that people who are not educated in anatomy and physiology are not aware of how to preserve their health. The lack of knowledge and understanding how mind and body correlate leads people to feel out of control over their own health. Reading this book everyone becomes knowledgeable enough to withstand any body health problem and preserve one’s health.

You can find the book in a paper cover or electronic version here:
https://www.amazon.ca/MindBody-Alliance-Truth-About-Acupuncture/dp/1483498034