TMJ/TMD Treatments

Common Methods of Treatment

• mouth guards / appliances / splints

• neuromuscular dentistry

• reshaping teeth

However, from the very name, "mouth guard," we infer that this kind of device doesn't solve the problem, but only hopes to prevent tooth damage. It's obvious -- what the mouth is being guarded from is ... the mouth! "Appliance" and "splint" are other names for "mouth guard".

Neuromuscular Dentistry

The desired outcome common comes in a few months; cost ranges from $5,000 to $25,000.

Re-shaping Teeth

Dentists have found that by changing the fit of upper and lower teeth, they can alter neuromuscular control of the muscles of biting and chewing and thereby alleviate TMJ Syndrome.

This approach posits that the cause of excessive jaw tension is poor fit between upper and lower teeth. Its method is to reshape tooth surfaces by a polishing process to improve the fit.

This method does get results. By changing the fit between teeth (by removing contours that prevent uniform contact among teeth), the process changes ones experience of biting and chewing. This change introduces such a new experience of biting and chewing that habitual patterns of muscular control are interrupted, allowing new movement patterns to form. However, it's an indirect approach involving ongoing dental surgery in a series of steps to a good fit. While its effects are beneficial, it misses the role of dental trauma in the formation of dental stress.

The video on this page demonstrates exactly that process -- called Hanna Somatic Education^®. The video shows changes in real-time -- painless, fast, inexpensive, and lasting -- produced by dispelling automatic, reflexive contraction patterns and re-awakening control of free movement.

The various symptoms of TMD/TMJ Syndrome -- headaches, earaches, bruxism, poor bite, tinnitis, postural changes, limited ability to open or close the jaws -- resolve into normal function.

How somatic exercises operate differently from other forms of exercises, and so get results not typically obtained with other forms of exercise, therapeutic or otherwise.