Hi all of my wonderful TMJoiners!
I’m Priya Mistry the TMJ doc and today I’m
going to be talking about HOW I treat TMJ Disorders
at my private practice.
This includes headaches, jaw pain, ear pain, clicking or popping noises in the joints,
or even episodes of the jaw being locked. If you’ve experienced any of
this or are experiencing any of this, then you likely
know how uncomfortable or even debilitating TMJD can be.
Pain levels associated with TMJD can be off the charts, making it impossible for
people to live their best lives.
This video will give you a better understanding as to how I treat TMJD with a 90% success
rate.
Please be sure to watch until the end so you don’t miss anything!
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.
Before getting right into it, please be sure to check out my social media accounts
for tips, trivia, random information about TMJ Disorders, and more!
Links are below.
I’ve noticed that while many of you are
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and you're watching my videos - you are not Subscribing.
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will become more easy to access for people who are suffering
and for people who are in pain. So please, please, I humbly ask you to hit that Subscribe
button and that notification bell next to it. Together we can help more people!
So now let’s get right into it.
TMJD can present in a variety of ways and sometimes the jaw joints are very
involved - with clicking, popping, and episodes of the jaw locking. And other times, the issues
are actually more muscular in nature - which is what leads to headaches, jaw pain, ear pain, etc.
Regardless of whether an individual has clicking or
popping, OR if they had headaches, ear pain OR really any combination thereof,
I typically follow a similar treatment protocol
for every patient. This treatment protocol is then individualized
and changed a little bit as needed for each person’s
unique condition.
The way that I treat TMJD at my private practice is with custom orthotics, myofascial release,
and osteopathic manual jaw manipulation.
Let’s go over each of those one by one.
Number 1 - Custom Made Orthotics. Orthotics are custom made mouth pieces that
when worn, hold the muscles of the head, neck, and jaw in their most relaxed
position and decompress the jaw joints.
When the muscles of the head, neck, and jaw
are held in this most relaxed position, this neutral position for
a significant amount of time, good things tend to happen.
We typically see headaches, jaw pain,
ear pain, neck pain, etc - go down pretty drastically
within a month-month and a half.
Additionally, when the joints are decompressed as they are when the
orthotics are worn, this allows for more space inside of the jaw joints.
This additional space gives the articular disc a chance to get back in alignment if
it is displaced or dislocated.
If that last sentence sounded like a foreign language
to you, please be sure to check out my videos “Disc Displacement
With Reduction” and “Disc Displacement
Without Reduction”, which I’ve linked both above and below.
For most of my patients, I fabricate both a daytime orthotic
and a nighttime orthotic. Both of these orthotics hold the jaw in the exact same position. So the
same "prescription" is built into both. However, the daytime one is considerably thinner in the
front so it's easier to speak with.
My ultimate goal is to taper everybody off of wearing the
daytime orthotic, usually within 12-16 weeks - once the joints start
to stabilize and once the pain is at a lower level or hopefully gone.
Most people choose to wear the nighttime orthotic
indefinitely because it holds the jaw in a more favorable position
and it just makes people feel good.
This nighttime orthotic - I like to call it the “adult
pacifier” because people really love it and many of my patients can't fall asleep without it.
I know that I love mine and I sleep with it
every single night!
Now let’s talk about Number 2 - Myofascial Release.
Myofascial release is a type of therapy that involves applying sustained pressure
to the muscles and the fascia that surround them.
When done properly, myofascial release stretches, lengthens, and smooths the overly tight and
constricted myofascial system and allows it to function at its optimal level.
Myofascial release also brings fresh blood circulation, fresh blood flow to these angry,
constricted, tight muscles and when this happens, these muscles then also get
fresh oxygen and glucose, allowing them to function better.
Additionally, myofascial release promotes fluid and lymphatic flow
which helps to eliminate toxins that have built up
in the muscles and the fascia over time.
Myofascial release can certainly be a little
bit painful because we are applying sustained pressure
to areas that are already usually a bit sore, so it's kind of like
kneading out a knot in a really tight muscle. It can hurt while it's being done,
but there are benefits to it later. The pain during the myofascial release can
also work in our favor because it actually signals
to our body to release our natural painkillers - endorphins, my friends!
These endorphins then help to prevent further pain impulses, so this then creates a cycle -
with fresh oxygen flow, with endorphins coming
through, with lymphatic flow, with drainage of toxins, of lactic acid that build up and
make the muscles sore. So the muscles then get a chance to snap out of their pain and spasm cycle.
The vast majority of my patients actually say that it "hurts so good" while I'm doing the myofascial
release - they actually like it. Some of them even ask me to press harder. Others
do say that it's a bit achy and sore for about 24 hours after
treatment, but ultimately myofascial release works very very well,
especially when used in conjunction with our
other treatment modalities - when used with our orthotics
and our osteopathic manual jaw manipulation.
Which leads us right to treatment modality Number 3 - the osteopathic
manual jaw manipulation.
So this is quite a mouthful, but essentially it's a jaw manipulation
that is very technique sensitive and it was taught to me by my wonderful mentor,
Dr. Arthur L. Parker.
This is a technique that he developed through his 40+ years of treating TMJD by learning
from and working with renowned osteopaths, renowned
TMJ physical therapists, and more.
As dentists, we do not learn much in dental school about diagnosing and treating TMJ Disorders.
So Dr. Parker over time developed his own unique,
conservative treatment protocol that I'm talking about in this video.
He's used this protocol to successfully
help thousands of people who are suffering from TMJD.
So back to that jaw manipulation. This jaw manipulation technique
is incredibly valuable
and beneficial for my patients who have clicking noises, popping noises in their
joints, OR whose jaws are locked closed - which is a very painful
condition during which the mouth can only open maybe
1 or 2 finger widths.
I see most of my patients on an average every two weeks. Those with a more advanced jaw
condition I see every single week.
At these appointments, we do a subtle head and neck massage in conjunction with myofascial
release and then we do the jaw manipulation as needed.
After this, we check and adjust the orthotics.
This is a very very important part of all of these appointments.
That's because the orthotics themselves cannot change but
each individual can, and as the muscles snap
out of their pain/spasm cycle, as the jaw joints begin to stabilize, we have to be
checking the orthotics and adjusting them to support and keep up with the body's changes.
Typically my patients are in treatment
from 2 months to 6 months, sometimes longer. It can really depend on the
severity of the TMJ Disorder.
We usually see pain subside pretty drastically within
1-2 months.
Clicking, popping, jaw locking - all of that can take longer
to treat and to stabilize - typically about 4-6 months for that. Jaw locking, clicking,
and popping can take 4-6 months to resolve and sometimes even longer.
So that’s really it my friends!
Again, I’m Dr. Priya Mistry and I hope you found this video helpful.
If so, please feel free to share it with your family and friends and don't forget to Subscribe!
For TMJD relief from the comfort of your own
home, I now have available on my website a free PDF Guide called
“3 Steps to TMJ(D) Relief”.
Again, you’ll find that on my office website,
which is linked below.
Questions and comments are always welcome, my friends!
And remember, you can never have TMI about TMJ! Thank you!