General & preventive
TMJ Disorder Treatment
Jaw joints that click, ache, lock or wake you with a headache. Usually the muscles rather than the joint — and usually treatable without surgery.
- Splint, injections, or both
- Two options
- Where we start
- Non-surgical
- At six to eight weeks
- Reviewed
What it feels like
A dull ache in front of the ear, a jaw that clicks or catches, teeth that feel tender in the morning, headaches that start at the temples.
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Many people have had it investigated as something else first, because the pain refers into the ear, the neck and the side of the head.
Finding the cause first
We examine the joint and the chewing muscles, check how the teeth meet, and look for the wear pattern that clenching leaves behind.
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The point is to separate a muscle problem from a joint problem, because the two are managed differently and guessing wastes months.
An occlusal splint
A hard splint made to fit your own bite, worn at night.
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It stops the teeth being ground against each other and gives the muscles a position they can rest in. It is the first thing we try in most cases: nothing is altered permanently, and if it helps, that also tells us what was causing the problem.
Anti-wrinkle injections into the chewing muscles
Where the muscles themselves are driving it — a heavy clench, a visibly enlarged masseter, pain that a splint only partly settles — small doses into those muscles reduce how hard they can contract.
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Administered by our own dentists, conservatively, and reviewed before anything is repeated. It is a prescription treatment, so it is discussed at a consultation rather than booked cold.
Splint, injections, or both
Frequently both, and in that order: the splint protects the teeth and the injections reduce the force reaching them.
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We review at six to eight weeks and change one thing at a time, so it stays clear which part is working.
