TMD, sometimes called TMJ, is a cycle of pain, muscle spasms and jaw joint problems that result when the teeth, chewing muscles, and jaw joints don’t work together harmoniously. The letters TMD stand for Temporomandibular Dysfunction. This refers to problems in muscles and joints that join the mandible bone at the jaw to the temporal bone at the base of the skull. Symptoms may include headaches, worn teeth, painful muscles in head, neck and shoulders, clicking and popping of the jaw joint, earaches, pain behind the eyes, difficulty opening and closing mouth, ringing in ears, tingling hands, and other problems. There are many causes of TMD, which include grinding of your teeth, injury, emotional stress, and bad bite. When teeth are missing, out of alignment, or are worn away, the teeth can’t come together evenly. This forces the jaw to shift position and the muscles to work harder than they ideally should to bring the teeth together. You bring your teeth together to swallow thousands of times a day. If your bite is out of alignment, this often causes constant muscle tension, which leads to muscle fatigue, spasm, and pain. The constant strain on the muscles can also pull the disc that cushions the jaw joint out of position. If this happens, the bones of the jaw joint can rub against each other in the nerves, causing pain and damaging the joint. Fortunately, TMD is treatable. First we’ll analyze your bite using advanced equipment to identify any problems. Then we may have you wear a custom-crafted bite sprint called orthotic for next several months to relax the muscles, restore balance to the jaw joint, and stabilize the bite. Once we have stabilized your bite, we can permanently correct it. Depending on your situation, we may replace missing teeth, move teeth with orthodontic treatment, or place crowns and veneers on all of your teeth. Millions of people suffer from TMD but with treatment, we can relieve pain and restore harmony to the teeth, muscles and the jaw joint.