The way you use your jaw can affect your neck,
your voice and your sleep. Got pain? Think about TMJ. TMJ stands for temporomandibular
joint, the joint between the jaw and the skull. It gets a lot of use. TMJ
health is necessary for speaking, biting and chewing, even for communication
both intimate and superficial. The babe sucking at her mother’s breast, as well
as the hunter waiting in a copse for a deer, is unconsciously using the TMJ.
Yet, ironically, it’s only when it’s not functioning well that we tend to
notice it. That’s when it’s actually called TMJ syndrome, a general diagnosis
meaning pain in the jaw joint and in the muscles that control jaw
movement, according to sources at the Mayo Clinic. What’s going on is that the
joint tissues get inflamed due to compression and friction. Unequal tension in
the muscles surrounding the joint causes pressure, pain and diminished
circulation. Sometimes there is disease involved, but that is a different
issue. For most people, TMJ discomfort and popping grows more common with age.
Some people have so much tension in the neck, that it pulls
the jaw backwards impeding normal use. It may not be visibly different, just
uncomfortable. Living with huge stress or grief can also generate unconscious tension
so dramatic that it causes an imbalance in the relative length of all the
muscles surrounding the joint. This can also lead to grinding the teeth. There was
a young woman in one of my classes who had moved away from home for the first
time. She was living in the city, and so afraid of living alone that she would
not open her windows, for fear of someone coming in to attack her. She clenched
her teeth so hard while she slept that she actually cracked a tooth.
A dentist might
give such a person a mouth “guard” made of acrylic. This may well protect the
teeth from each other, but it will not change the habit. What it does do is create
a normal space between the teeth while you are resting. Just notice as you read
if your teeth are clenched or if there is a small space between the upper and
the lower jaw. This is normal. Yet, “normal” is actually unusual, since most
people have excess tension that shows up as clenching of the jaw. What we think
of as normal is actually ideal. It would be ideal to have space between the
teeth at rest. Perhaps, rather than trying to prevent cracking your own teeth
because of tension, it would make sense to find a way to manage the tension.
This is my invitation to you. Join us for a free Awareness Lesson to Relieve
TMJ. Your Life Matters Learning Resources
and Compassionate Dental Wellness are
two new businesses in town working together to offer real solutions to improve
your quality of life. After all, quantity is worthless if it doesn’t feel good.
Open House on Tuesday, May 14, 5-8 pm. Light refreshments and a Flight of Essential
Oil for Oral Wellness will also be available for the sampling.
2 3 5 W. M a i n St ,
Jacksonville, OREGON. Come Relax Wit h Us!
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