Hi all of my wonderful TMJoiners! I’m Priya Mistry the TMJ doc and today I’m going to
talk to you about your bite - the way your teeth fit together - and TMJ Disorders. How does your
bite affect the jaw joints? Are there certain bite patterns that lend themselves to TMJD Disorders?
Watch this video until the end for the answers to those questions and more!
That being said, if you’re looking for more information on TMJ Disorders for yourself
or for a loved one, then this is the YouTube channel for you. Be sure to hit that Subscribe
button as I post a new informational video every Friday for people who are
suffering from TMJ Disorders or for people who are just looking for more information.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a general dentist with a practice in Vancouver,
Washington where we are dedicated to taking care of patients with TMJ disorders.
So let’s get right into it! There is a definite relationship
between the two jaw joints and the way the teeth fit together like cogs on a gear. My mentor,
Dr. Arthur Parker, always referred to this as a tripod-like relationship,
with the two joints being two legs of the tripod and the bit e- way the teeth fit
together - being that third leg of the tripod. So what happens when you cut off one leg of a tripod?
The whole system will go out of balance. So same thing here - if one jaw joint is dysfunctional,
it can negatively affect the bite and vice versa. If the bite is not balanced or it's a
"bad bite", that can negatively affect the jaw joints. So what defines a good bite anyway?
Well, ideally the teeth should fit together a very specific way
to distribute the forces of chewing and speaking evenly. These images show a well-balanced bite.
And when the bite looks this way, we typically find that the muscles of the head, neck, and jaw
AND the jaw joints are also typically in a favorable, healthy, and functional position. This
favorable position for the muscles and the joints then lowers the risks of having TMJ problems.
So that begs the question - which bite patterns increase the risk of having TMJ problems? There
are definitely certain bite patterns that I see over and over again in my patients,
with one of these being a deep bite. A deep bite is when the front top teeth overlap the front
bottom teeth much more than deal, with ideal being about 1-2 mm. With a deep bite, the whole jaw bone
is actually held back further than ideal every single time the teeth come together.
Our teeth come together 1000 times a day just with swallowing. Throw in chewing,
clenching, grinding - many of us have our teeth together a lot of the time. So what the means
onside of the actual jaw joint when the whole jaw bone is held back further than ideal, that means
that the little bony knob the jaw bone ends on called the condyle is also held further back than
ideal. When the condyle is held back further than ideal, the little disc of cartilaginous tissue
called the articular disc inside the jaw joint can displace too far forward more easily. This leads
to clicking and popping noises. For diagrams and a better explanation and illustration of this in
general, please watch my video “Jaw Joint Noises - Snap, Crackle, Pop”, which I've linked above.
Another bite pattern that lends itself to TMJ Disorders is a “crossbite”.
In an ideal situation, the upper teeth and lower teeth fit together like a hatbox.
In a crossbite, the opposite actually occurs. Crossbites in general put too much
lateral - sideways - strain on the TMJs and the jaw joints are not built for a lateral strain.
They are built for a lot of up and down movement, and forward and backward
but not a lot of right and left movement. So that lateral strain, that right and left strain,
can cause the muscles of the jaw to go into spasm. And that can lead to a lot of pain and TMJD.
A third bite pattern I see quite frequently with my patients is an overjet.
Many people actually confuse an overjet with an overbite. An overbite is a deep bite,
which I’ve talked about already in this video. An overjet is the top front teeth overlapping
the bottom front teeth in a horizontal direction. This type of bite pattern, just like a deep bite,
also holds the jaw bone too far back which can then lead to the little disc getting out
of alignment too far forward. That then leads to clicking and popping noises. It can also
eventually lead the jaw locking closed, which is not a fun situation to be in.
Like I mentioned before, our teeth come together 1000 times per day just from swallowing.
Throw in clenching, grinding, chewing activity,
and many of our like I said, have our together quite a bit. For people who have overjets,
overbites, and crossbites - simply the teeth coming together this much
can lead to a lot of dysfunction in the joints and the muscles that surround and support the jaw.
So if you’re wondering about your bite, grab a mirror my friends! Grab a mirror and bite down!
Then, pull your lips back with your fingers or your facial muscles and take a good look!
Do you see your top front teeth overlapping your bottom front teeth excessively - either
in the vertical dimension or the horizontal dimension? Do you see your bottom teeth
overlapping your top teeth in the front or the back? That could be a crossbite. All of these bite
patterns lend themselves to TMJ Disorders. If you have further questions about your specific bite,
I would definitely encourage you to talk to your dentist!
So that’s really it my friends. I hope that you like what you heard, you learned something new
and if so, please click “Like” below, Subscribe to my channel, do all the things! The more you
Subscribe, the more you Share, the more these videos are pushed out into the Interwebs
to potentially help more people because that's really the only goal of this channel. As always,
questions and comments are welcome. Tell me below in the comments section if you can relate
to anything in this video, if you learned anything new about your own bite! I’d love
to hear from you. And remember, my friends, you can never have TMI about TMJ! Thank you!