Find The Best Professional for your TMJ and Jaw Pain problems
3 min readTMJ disorder is a problem that millions of people are dealing with today. It is a disorder that is associated with Jawbone joint. TMJ or Temporo-mandibular joint disorder is a painful condition, which causes minor discomfort to major pain and it can also affect to other associated parts of the body.
There are different medical terms used for this condition, it includes TMD or temporo-mandibular joint disorder, TMJ syndrome, TMJ and many others that you can find in any medical terminology book.
There are several medical specialists or professionals that can help you to get rid of your jaw pain and TMJ problems. However, the effectiveness of the treatment differs among each of them and it is important to know how they apply the treatment to help you with the TMJ disorder.
Medical professionals that can help you with the TMJ dysfunction shall include:
- Dentists.
- Orthopaedists.
- Chiropractor.
- Massage therapists
- Medical Doctors, etc.
You must keep in mind that different types of medical professionals, use different types of treatment techniques, are differently skilled and may have different experience in treating TMJ disorder.
The Best Professional to treat TMJ dysfunction
Dentists are more likely to be the best trained professional to diagnose the symptoms of TMJ and provide suitable treatment for it. This is based on the academics and the associated education that a person receives for becoming a professional in the field.
However, there are still not many institutions that focus on TMJ as a proper course. Moreover, there are certain universities that only have a few classes for TMJ disorders and treatment in the complete 4 year term.
But for individuals that are continuing education and looking for post graduate courses, there are different professionals that will help you to increase or improve your dental knowledge on TMJ diagnosis and treatment.
You can look for a few popular dental organizations that focus on Diagnosis of head and neck pain as they are associated with good dental health. Some of these organisations that can help you with TMJ treatments are:-
- American Academy of Craniofacial Pain.
- International Association for Orthodontics.
- Raman Center for Headache and Jaw Pain Treatment.
The organisations have several members and professional dentists that are specifically trained for the treatment and diagnosis of jaw pain and other TMJ dysfunction symptoms.
By doing a little research, you may also find that there are certain chiropractors that have started focussing on TMJ. Even though, they might not be provide with treatment as effective as the dentists, but some of their services might be helpful. There are certain chiropractors that can help you get relief from the TMJ and Jaw Pain symptoms, but only when the symptoms are mild and from a misaligned body position.
There are professionals in the field of chiropractor dentists also referred as chirodontists that have the skills of spine alignment and the facial bone alignment or the craniofacial anatomy. These professionals too have some knowledge about TMJ dysfunction and can help you get relief from it.
Different technologies used for the treatment of Jaw Pain Diagnosis
Among the several trained professionals, dentists considerably have the best technology to offer proper treatment or diagnosis of TMJ dysfunction and have direct access to suitable technology.
Technologies used for TMJ diagnosis includes-
- Computerized Tomography- computerized imaging of the health of the Jaw bone or joint.
- Electromyography- Another screening device used to measure the facial muscle misalignment.
- X-Ray- Almost all dental offices have this technology.
- T-Scan- computerized measurement used to detect if you feel any facial pain and so on.
There are other technologies too that you can look for, but make sure you have some information about it before you opt for the treatment.
Lastly, for individuals that are dealing with TMJ symptoms or Jaw Pain, it is recommended that first you consider a local dentist in your area and find out if they offer any of the above mentioned techniques. You can hire the best options that you can get, make sure you look for reviews and recommendations before you decide on a particular professional.