Cosmetic Dentistry Directory Blog
Cosmetic Dentistry Directory
Monday, February 15, 2010
Diagnosing TMD
It is simply impossible to accurately treat a medical problem without first properly diagnosing it. Temporomandibular joint disorder, commonly referred to as TMJ or TMD, is a frequently misdiagnosed medical (dental) condition because its symptoms are many, varied, and resemble the symptoms of so many other medical conditions. But TMD is a bad bite and can be correctly diagnosed by a neuromuscular dentist.
People who have TMD suffer a whole host of painful symptoms including:
- Severe headaches
- Jaw pain
- Facial pain
- Jaw stiffness
- Clicking, popping noises in the jaw
- Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
- Neck/shoulder pain
- Locking of the jaw
Often times, people spend years trying to find a medical doctor to relieve their symptoms and "fix" them, but, in actuality, it is most often a neuromuscular dentist who correctly diagnoses this group of symptoms as temporomandibular joint disorder.
Neuromuscular dentistry focuses on correcting your bite. Using a TENS unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation), the TMD diagnosis itself corrects it temporarily, relieving pain immediately. This provides the goal for your treatment plan - to make that jaw position permanent and eliminate your symptoms.
Some other tools used in TMD diagnosis are:
- K7 Evaluation System -- one of the most significant tools used to locate the proper position of the jaw (within tenths of a millimeter). K7 technology utilizes sonography, electromyography, and jaw tracking to determine the jaw's current and optimal positions.
- Computed Tomography (CT scan) provides a detailed view of the bones in the joint and surrounding areas; it does not provide great detail of the soft tissues.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides detail of the soft tissues connected to the jaw joint (muscles, nerves, blood vessels).
- Tomography is a type of x-ray that shows cross-sections of your jaw; these machines are typically found in neuromuscular dentists' offices.
- X-rays performed in the dentist's office can provide him/her with views of your jaw joint and the surrounding bones and teeth.
Once it is determined that you have TMD, a treatment plan will be discussed.
If you would like to learn more about TMD and how it is diagnosed, please contact a neuromuscular dentist in your area today; to learn more, please read our Questions About Neuromuscular Dentistry page today.
posted by Tiffany at 11:27 AM
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