Hi my wonderful TMJoiners! I’m Priya Mistry the TMJ doc and today I’m going to talk about the 6x6
Exercise! What is the 6x6 exercise? Why am I talking about it? How can it potentially benefit
YOU? 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,
be sure to hit that Subscribe button because 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.
Check out my TikTok, which I'm new to, as well as my other social media which I've linked below!
So let’s get right into it! Some of you may have heard me talk about in my previous videos
the 6x6 exercise - so this information might be familiar to you. For the rest
of you - what is this 6x6 Exercise? How can it benefit you? Well, my friends, if you have
popping or clicking noises in your [jaw] joints, the 6x6 exercise can help decrease those noises
over time. This does not work quickly. These popping and clicking noises occur when the
little disc of cartilaginous tissue inside of our jaw joints comes in and out of alignment - pop,
click, pop, click. It is NOT ideal for this disc to come in and out of alignment and for many
people, this pop or click can be jarring or even painful. So with the 6x6 Exercise, what happens
is that everything is put into proper alignment while you’re doing the exercise. Done over time,
this can actually help the disc that's coming in and out of alignment to remodel and get back into
alignment. At my TMJD-only practice, I ask select patients to do this 6x6 exercise and
I also use TMJ orthotics and a technique called myofascial release to help get the disc back in
proper alignment over time. The 6x6 Exercise by itself will NOT work quickly and for some people,
orthotics are an essential part of their journey towards decreasing these jaw joint noises. So
please don't do the 6x6 and expect immediate results. That's not really how it works. It can
really take several months or even years to work, especially if you’re not wearing a TMJ orthotic.
Let’s talk about the exercise itself. For the 6x6 Exercise, you want to do it standing or sitting up
without an appliance or an orthotic in your mouth. You're first going bring your teeth edge-to-edge,
as if you're biting off a thread. And you can look in a mirror to help make sure you're actually
edge-to-edge with your front teeth. So you'll bring your front teeth edge-to-edge and then
you're going to open wide, pretty wide - don't hurt yourself, but pretty wide,
pretty close to your maximum opening. And then back edge to edge. And you're going to do that
6 times, 6 times a day. Hence the name "the 6x6". Don’t do it 7, 8, 9 times a day - you can overdo
it. You can irritate the jaw joint. LESS is definitely MORE when it comes to TMJ Disorders!
So again, doing the 6x6 daily overtime can truly help decrease
jaw joint noises. Some people will need the orthotics and the myofascial release to help them
decrease these noises. But for some people, the 6x6 can be very effective.
So that’s really it my friends. If you like what you heard or you learned something new,
click “Like” below, Subscribe to my channel, do all the things! Questions and comments
are always welcome and remember, my friends, you can never have TMI about TMJ! Thank you!