We have all had days where something hurts, whether it’s a headache, toothache, or a muscle ache, everyone has, at some point, felt physical pain in their lives. However, there are some who suffer from pain on a constant basis. Pain that does not go away after months at a time is generally known as chronic pain. Chronic pain can be caused by a variety of conditions including TMJ disorder. Though not a very well known condition, TMJ disorder occurs when the jaw joint is misaligned or out of proper balance. The disorder often causes migraines, facial pain, headaches, and even neck pain. Generally, this pain isn’t constant but it is continuous, and without the right treatment, the pain continues and becomes chronic. But, chronic pain, today, stands as one of the most unknown and somewhat hard to diagnose conditions.
For this reason, to help spread awareness and effort towards understanding chronic pain, the Women’s Advocates organization has called to the Institute of Medicine to spend more time and money on researching chronic pain. Though anyone can suffer from chronic pain, it is highly prevalent in women. But, the main problem is that chronic pain commonly goes disregarded, improperly treated, or in some cases, not treated at all.
TMJ and Chronic Widespread Pain
Though one may not commonly associate a problem within the jaw joint to pain that can last for months on end, the fact is that TMJ is well-known for causing all sorts of discomfort, aside from the expected jaw pain.
With TMJ the jaw joint isn’t in its proper location, which then influences the body to naturally attempt to fix the problem. This usually causes an increased amount of strain, pressure, and tension along the jaw joint as the body tries to pull it into a more ideal position. The natural but painful process not only causes jaw pain, but pain in other connected parts of the body, such as the face, head, neck, and even in the extremities. Believe it or not the jaw joint is connected through nerves, tendons, and muscles, to all of these body parts.
When it comes to treating chronic pain associated with TMJ, the only long-lasting permanent fix is to have proper TMJ treatment, which usually involves correcting malocclusion and realigning your bite.
If you suffer from chronic pain that may be associated with TMJ disorder, come to Dr. Dunayer’s office today to get started on a treatment plan to resolve what may be the root cause of all of your discomfort. Contact us today!
