Hi all of my wonderful TMJoiners! I’m Priya Mistry the TMJ doc and today I’m going to talk
about your lifestyle and how it can affect TMJD! That being said, for those of you who are looking
for more information on TMJ Disorders for yourself or for a loved one, then this is the YouTube
channel for you. 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! I'm going to list off the different aspects of lifestyle that can
affect TMJD and then I'll circle back around and go over each one in detail. So the four aspects
I'm going to be talking about today are:1) Diet 2) Sleep 3) Posture and 4) Habits.
Let’s talk more about diet. During a TMJD flare up and increased pain levels, it’s really important
to avoid foods that are sticky or difficult to chew. Bagels, steak, beef jerky, raw carrots,
raw apples, and really anything else that you can think of that is tough or hard to chew.
Avoiding these foods will help to take strain off of the chewing muscles as well as the jaw joints.
Additionally, it’s important to keep in mind that a nutritious diet is always essential to good
healing. So while I’m telling you or asking you to cut certain foods out of your diet temporarily,
it’s also important to get all the nutrients that you need! If the body is getting all the essential
nutrients, then the healing process occurs much more quickly. Taking a daily multivitamin can
be super helpful if you’ve limited your diet in any way. We love the UltraHigh Multivitamin that
we carry in our office. This is sourced from a local company that uses the highes quality
ingredients and my patients utilize it frequently. I’ve linked it in the description box below.
Next - let’s talk about sleep! In this day and age, many of us have poor sleep. This may be due
to poor sleep hygiene OR due to Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB)
or some combination of both. So what exactly is sleep hygiene?
What is Sleep Disordered Breathing? Let's define those first before we move forward.
Good sleep hygiene is all about having a good sleep environment and a daily bedtime routine that
supports continuous, uninterrupted sleep. Sleep Disordered Breathing, or SDB according to Medscape
is and I quote: “SDB represents a group of physiopathologic conditions that are characterized
by an abnormal respiratory pattern during sleep”. In plain old English, Sleep Disordered
Breathing - which includes Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome - results
in the body not getting enough oxygen while we're sleeping which then disrupts sleep substantially.
Many of us sleep at a late hour and we try to fall asleep immediately after being glued to our TVs,
our phones, our tablets. Pair that with any sort of Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) and
that leads to pretty poor quality sleep. Many of these factors are at least somewhat in our control
and it’s really important to get good, restful sleep to heal from any ailment including TMJD.
If you suspect that you may not be getting good sleep and you're not exactly sure why,
a good first step is to try to schedule a sleep study to diagnose any Sleep Disordered
Breathing - which again includes Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) or Obstructive Sleep
Apnea (OSA). If diagnosed, the next step is to come up with a good plan with your sleep
doctor to ensure that you're getting enough oxygen. This can include getting a CPAP machine
or getting fitted for an oral appliance that actually holds the jaw forward and therefore
opens up the airway allowing us to get more oxygen. Next, it’s vital to take a look at
your sleep hygiene and see where alterations may be needed. Turn off all screens 1.5 to
2 hours before going to bed each night, avoid caffeine at the end of the day, keep the lights
dim towards the end of the day, and try to go to bed at the same time each night. All of
these changes will help result in more restful and that will help healing progress at a faster rate.
Now let’s talk about posture! Let’s begin by defining “good” posture. In short,
good posture is when the ears, shoulders, and hips are all in line with each other when walking,
standing or sitting. Many of us sit in front of the computer all day long and because of this,
we have developed a sort of forward head posture. Some of us already have this forward head posture
due to the airway issues. Holding the head forward actually opens up the airway, and many of us do
this subconsciously because it helps us to breathe better while we're awake. Every inch the head
is held forward from ideal puts an additional 10 pounds of pressure and strain on the cervical
spine and the muscles of the neck! Since the neck and jaw are intimately related,
this will then negatively affects the jaw and can cause flares in TMJD.
Poor posture when standing is also an issue. Many of us stand again with our head forward, or with
our hips forward or back. Standing up straight and having proper alignment can be very helpful
but many of us cannot do this at all because of an imbalance in the spine, the shoulders, the hips,
or the feet. This is where physical therapy can become really helpful because it can help
balance the body which can then have a positive impact on TMJ disorder.
Let’s move on to habits! Habits that are detrimental to the muscles of the head,
neck, and jaw and the jaw joints include but are not limited to:
1) Gum chewing 2) Chewing on a pen or a pencil
3) Nail biting 4) Using your teeth for anything other than
chewing - like to open things or to pull staples out - I've even heard of a patient doing that!
5) Resting your hand or fist against your jaw - many of us do this subconsciously
throughout the day 6) Chewing on Ice
7) Too much caffeine 8) Not enough Hydration.
The good news here is that many of these habits are under YOUR control, my friends!
So try to break these habits or at least decrease them significantly. If you need to, you can even
seek help to do this. Some of these habits - like nail biting or chewing on ice - can be linked to
anxiety or a mineral deficiency so sometimes some outside help is needed to break those habits.
But breaking these habits will definitely take the strain off of your jaw joints as well as
the muscles of your head, neck, and jaw. So that’s really it my friends. If you like
what you heard or learned something new, click “Like” below and Subscribe to my channel. Do all
the things! As always, questions and comments are welcome. I'd love to hear about you, what
you learned in this video, or some habits that you have that you may not have even realized have been
impacting your TMJD! And remember my friends, you can never have TMI about TMJ! Thank you!