Treating TMJ

TMJ is a syndrome that patients get as many different causes of it. A lot of cause is due to occlusion and how the patient is biting or grinding their teeth at night or clenching. These all create trauma to the joint, which is called the temporomandibular joint, since it is called TMJ. A lot of patients go through different types of treatment, one of those latest treatments that we have is actually using Botox for these patients to give them some relief. The patients usually who are in severe TMJ have extreme pain constantly throughout the day. They are usually taking a lot of medicine, over-the-counter drugs, and sometimes stronger drugs to try to combat this pain. The first step is to make appliances and to try to relieve it with that. Now today, we have Botox, which can be used in conjunction with appliances where we relax the muscles of the jaw so that the patient no longer can clench or grind their teeth with as much force. Botox is basically a muscle relaxant. A lot of people think it freezes. No, it does not freeze your muscles, it relaxes your muscles so that you are no longer able to bite down with as much force, which relives the trauma to the joint and gives you pain relief.