Sore or Locked Jaws, Persistent Headaches or Limited Jaw Movement

Wake up in the morning with headaches?

Jaw stiff or locked?

Yawn and you cannot close your mouth?

Partner complain about your tooth grinding at night?

You may be suffering from TMD, (Tempromandibular Joint Disorder) or other jaw joint and muscle of mastication related problems.

Causes

Tooth grinding (grinding the teeth against each other, usually subconsciously and at night) causes wear facets on the biting surfaces of the teeth, flattening them and predisposing the tooth edges to chipping. The cause of grinding is usually stress!!

Tooth grinding may be accompanied by other symptoms, such as sore teeth, sore jaw and dull headaches. If it is severe, it results in a noticeable loss of vertical height from the teeth.

Clenching of the teeth along with tooth grinding can lead to damage in the jaw joints from overloading and fatigue/aches in the muscles that are being used during the clenching and grinding.

This can cause ongoing headaches, typically experienced in the morning or at the end of the day. Sometimes these headaches can be very debilitating and if acute you should seek treatment straight away.

Trauma to the jaw joint either chronic, (through clenching and grinding) or acute, (injury through striking the jaw hard) can also cause the jaw to lock open or closed.

Treatment

We recommend you see a dentist as quickly as you can, as - if attended to rapidly - the (in most cases) jaw can be easily reduced and can return back to normal.

Should you be suffering from Sore or Locked Jaws or Limited Jaw Movement contact Adelaide Emergency Dental on 0407 111 117.