Hello Friends! I'm Priya Mistry, the TMJ doc and today's video is about what to eat and what not
to eat if you're having pain tension or fatigue in your jaw or your TMJs - your Temporomandibular
Joints. One of my subscribers requested that I make this video, so here it is and i hope
you enjoy! For those of you who don't know me, I'm a General Dentist with a practice dedicated
to taking care of patients with TMJ disorders. My practice is in Portland, Oregon where I work with
my mentor Dr. Arthur L. Parker. If you haven't already, be sure to check out our office website.
Be sure to check out my Instagram. The handle there is "the underscore tmj underscore doc".
Also check out my Twitter- tweet tweet - it's "at priya tmj" if you haven't already!
I like to post on social media frequently with tips, trivia, just general information
about TMJ disorders because there's a lot of misinformation out there. So if you like to
learn more and geek out about this stuff like I do, be sure to check out my social media accounts!
so let's get right into it! If you're having jaw pain, tension, or fatigue the best thing you
can do is not make it worse! Don't make it worse! Don't exacerbate it! So you can do this easily by
"babying" your jaw and your jaw joints. I was asked specifically to give a list of foods to
avoid and a list of foods that are okay, so let's start with the list of foods to avoid. Foods to
avoid: number one is actually bagels! Bagels are very dense and tough to chew and they are not kind
to our chewing muscles or our jaw joints. Steak is another one that falls under that category.
Salad requires a lot of chewing and compression of the joints. Raw fruits and vegetables - as
delicious as they are - it's good to avoid them in the short term if you're having acute pain. Hard,
crusty french bread is another one to avoid that kind of falls into the bagel category, as well.
And a few others are: beef jerky, nuts, granola - all of these require a lot of work for our jaw
muscles and put a lot of stress on the joints as well. So basically anything that's difficult to
chew or requires a lot of chewing - stay away from! Also as a side note, you want to stay
away from too much caffeine. Too much caffeine dehydrates the muscles that are already fatigued,
that are already dysfunctional and contributing to jaw pain. So i would say one cup of coffee a day.
A lot of my patients with a lot of pain are coming in drinking three or four cups of coffee
and once we lower that to one cup, we see those pain levels go down.
Let's go on to the list of foods that are okay. Soft pastas - yum! Think mac and cheese.
Smoothies - smoothies are delicious and nutritional! Soft bread, fish, yogurt,
rice, cooked fruits and vegetables... so basically anything that's not difficult to chew.
Also as a side note here: stay hydrated! Drink a lot of water! I'm always surprised to find out how
many people don't like water! My co-workers don't like water.. I drink tons of water! I think it's
delicious! So drink a lot of water - not because i think it's delicious - but because it helps to
flush toxins out of our systems. Dysfunctional, angry muscles that are driving a lot of our pain
contain a lot of toxins, so combat those toxins! Flush them out of there with tons of water but
again, don't overdo it. The U.S. National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine determined
that an adequate daily fluid intake is about 15 cups of fluids for men and about 11 cups of
fluids for women. Do also keep in mind that it's important to have a healthy and balanced diet,
with or without TMJ pain. So if you're having pain and you have to avoid some of your dietary staples
like a crispy apple or raw carrots, just keep in mind that there are ways to get the nutrients
from these foods! Blending these foods and making a delicious smoothie is a wonderful
way to get these nutrients and still respect the muscles of your head, neck, and jaw as well as
your jaw joints. Get creative and be sure not to deprive your body of essential nutrients. Remember
our bodies - TMJ included - they heal faster when we're not deprived of essential nutrients,
when we have everything that we need in order for our body's healing mechanisms to kick in. Another
thing that you can do to bring some relief to these angry muscles from the comfort of your
own home is to do some muscle releases. I have a Youtube Playlist called "TMJ exercises/Muscle
Releases" and it has multiple videos on releasing this muscle - the sternocleidomastoid,
the masseter, the temporalis, and then even some intraoral techniques.. so take a look at those.
I've seen them bring a lot of relief to several of my patients and some people that aren't even
my patients that are just doing these releases on themselves. I've linked this playlist in the
description box below, so please be sure to take some time and do these muscle releases
on yourself. They can help, they can bring relief - I've seen it. So there you have it, my friends.
If you like what you heard, learned something new click "Like" below, SUBSCRIBE to my channel,
do all the things and as always, feel free to question or comment in the comment box below!
And remember my friends - you can never have TMI about TMJ! Thank you!