Pain is a signal that something is wrong with one or some parts of the body. To relieve the pain, medicine is taken.
If the pain persists, however, the culprit may be a dysfunction in the jaw. In this case, a dentist may hold the cure for the pain.
In medical parlance, this condition is called the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction, an affliction caused by stress on the temporomandibular joint found in front of the ear. It is mainly a result of malocclusion, or the improper coming maladjustment in the jaw creates a great deal of strain in the area.
Pain may be felt at first in the teeth or jaw, but it can radiate to the head and the nose, giving rise to such chronic complaints as headaches, sinusitis, vertigo, stiff neck and ringing in the ears.
In several instances, pain is felt all the way down the spine, as in cases of lower back pain or scoliosis. The worst part is that so much medication can relieve it.
Recent research has shown, however, that the cure lies in TMJ treatment, which has been helping the United States and Europe.
In the Philippines Dr. Lolita Flores-Fandialan pioneered in the study of this type of treatment.
“A lot of patients come to us severely distraught because of the suffering they’ve been going through for years. They have been to many doctors, including EENTs, neurologists and even psychiatrists, but TMJ dysfunction is outside their working field. An X-ray of the patient’s head would always show a misaligned jaw that pushes against the bones and nerves of the neck and spine.” she says.
The best doctor to treat this affliction is a”TMJ specialist.” says Fandialan, who still teaches dentists all over the Philippines regarding Craniocervical Craniosacral TMJ Course together with Dr. Cecil Muer-Samiano and Dr. Jeffrey Montoya Sumague.
The orthopedic imbalance has also resulted in a misaligned body; the shoulders, breasts and hips are not balanced.
The usual complaint, however, is severe, unexplainable headaches. Did you know that headaches are mainly caused by muscular contraction brought about by depression, anxiety and other psychological stresses? A mere two percent are a result of disease or accidents.
Nine out of 10 patients seen at the TMJ Center suffer from these muscle contraction headaches aggravated by a maladjusted jaw, coupled with inappropriate release of stress such as bruxism, or the clenching of the teeth, and poor posture, consisting of orthopedic jaw adjustment and behavioral modification. Already TMJ treatment has been hailed as a through in headache research and cure.
Fandialan, Samiano and Sumague hope to make people more aware of TMJ Dysfunction, and share her research findings with medical and dental practitioners.
She lists several signs that will help determine if a person has TMJ Dysfunction. These are:
* Clicking, crunching or crackling sounds in your jaw whenever you chew, yawn or swallow.
* Muscle cramps and pain in the shoulder and neck.
* Earaches and toothaches despite the absence of infection.
* Frequent headaches that medication can’t cure
* Frequent dizzy spells and a feeling of light-headedness
“Not many people realize that the pain they feel could actually be caused by TMJ dysfunction.
I envision a future where doctors can better recognize the ailment, which more dentists can treat” Fandialan added.
