TMJ stands for Temporomandibular Joint. It establishes the connection between the lower jaw in one’s mouth with the temporal bone in the skull. However, this joint has adequate flexibility which allows the individual to open or close mouth up and down, as well as sideways.

Even eating can be a cause of jaw pain. Chewing tough vegetables or a tough steak or thick sandwiches can stress your jaw joints.

We all know the significance of opening and closing our mouth on a daily basis. You eat, talk and drink through our mouth. Due to TMJ pain if the opening and closing of the mouth is compromised even slightly you feel the brunt of it. Since this joint is located extremely close to the ears, any pain caused to the former will have repercussions on the latter.

Symptoms of TMJ Trouble:

-Pain when you talk, yawn or chew.

-Ringing of the ears

-Clicking or locking sounds while opening or closing the mouth.

-An abnormal position of the mouth while biting or chewing food can be symptoms of TMJ disorder.

-Headaches or neck pain

-Stiffness in the jaws

-Inability to open your mouth wide.

-Inability to open your mouth more than a couple inches.

Consider the following when you are trying to pinpoint why this pain is going on.

Causes Of Jaw Pain And Trouble:

There are several points that can be made about jaw pain cause:

Sudden clenching of the jaws out of anger or eating something can cause such pain. This is mainly because the clenching action puts unnecessary pressure on the flexible and soft joint and creates tight muscles of the face, jaw and neck.

Arthritis can affect any joint. You may need to go to a medical doctor to rule out arthritis of the jaw joint.

Sleeping on your tummy pushes the head to one side and can cause tight muscles and pressure on the jaw.

Sometimes the ball and socket keeping the joint in place may slip off from their normal positions causing the jaw to open and/or close imperfectly.

Chewing gum – if your jaw ball and socket are not correctly placed, chewing gum is going to put a continuous strain on your jaw joint and muscles. Avoid chewing gum if you are having jaw problems.

Sometimes when you eat things like a jawbreaker or stick candies, it can cause the jaws to open or close improperly or put a lot of strain on the TMJ causing lock-jaw. Our instant reaction is to pull our jaw open which can cause further damage to the TMJ.

To help reduce a spasm, you may find that moist heat applied to the jaw is helpful. Just apply a moist hot washcloth to the face and remoisten it when it gets cool. Try this for 10 minutes a few times a day and see what it will do for you.

Since the main problem lies with the muscles attaching to the TMJ joint, exercises for the muscles that attach to this joint on each side of your face are very helpful in clearing the problem. These can be done in sets, just a few times a day and will usually clear the problem in a few weeks.

Author Bio: It is important to take care of your jaw pain causes and TMJ at the first sign of problems. I was told I would need surgery. Read more on how I got rid of my TMJ through physical therapy that I could do myself. You can learn this too. Go here to read more: TMJ Exercises for jaw pain.

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