Dr. Estes and her team are committed to ensuring each patient and their families receive excellent care using state-of-the-art treatment options.
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Skip to contentTMD is more common than you think. Ever wondered why your jaw makes a popping sound? Have you felt localized pain near your ear? Have you experienced a locking or limited movement of your jaw?
Our mouths are complex structures. One part that most people often overlook is the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ for short. This joint allows your jaws to perform several movements. Some patients suffer a disorder that can cause pain and limit movement. We call this condition Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, or TMD for short.
Friends and neighbors from El Cerrito can come to our office in Albany for the right treatment.
Determining the causes of TMD remains a challenging task in the dental health community. Even trained orthodontists, and other dental health specialists with advanced knowledge about people’s dental structures, have a hard time pinpointing an exact cause for TMD.
Your El Cerrito TMJ is under constant use. This cartilage disc allows up and down movements and moving your jaws to the side, meaning you need it to talk, yawn, and chew. Still, we cannot attribute this type of disorder to excessive use of your temporomandibular joint.
There may exist a correlation between TMD and other elements like grinding your teeth, various degrees of arthritis, or severe trauma to your jaw. Sadly, the relationship remains unclear. As you can see, there are many reasons people develop disorders requiring TMJ-TMD Treatment in El Cerrito.
Let’s talk about some of the symptoms you might notice if you suffer from TMD. The most common symptom reported by patients who suffer from this problem is muscular or joint pain when they chew. Individuals suffering from this for a long time also report constant headaches and dizziness.
Be careful when opening or closing your jaw because you may have a more limited range of motion if dealing with TMD. That locking of your jaw may prove painful. Try not to force your jaw in either direction.
People who experience muscular pain may also feel radiating pain on their necks, shoulders, and up their heads.
Dr. Estes and her team are committed to ensuring each patient and their families receive excellent care using state-of-the-art treatment options.