Therapy

One of the treatments for a temporomandibular joint disorder is splint appliance therapy. Splint therapy is designed to help specific TMD symptoms. The purpose of the splint is both therapeutic and diagnostic.

Purpose

• Decrease symptoms
• Increase chewing strength
• Improve and stabilize muscle and jaw function
• Relieve sleep time tooth grinding

Myofascial pain is a specific muscle pain diagnosis that can create pain symptoms that can include jaw joint area pain, tooth pain and headache. Local anesthetic trigger point injections or neuromodulators (e.g. Botox®) can be useful in treating myofacial pain. Sleep time tooth grinding can also be relieved in some patients by neuromodulator injections (eg:®Botox).

Unfortunately the temporomandibular joint can be affected by degenerative processes like osteoarthritis. In very rare circumstances steroid injections may be required for pain control. Please note: multiple injections are not recommended since this may be harmful to the structures of the joint. Therefore, anti-inflammatory injections in the TMJ are used in only selected cases.

Snoring can seriously affect quality of life – both for the person who snores and for their sleep partner. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs when the airway completely collapses and blocks the airflow into the lungs. Untreated OSA has been linked to many health disorders. The Sleep Apnea Appliance holds the lower jaw in a forward position so that it does not shift or fall open during the night. This prevents the airway from collapsing.