TMJ disorder (or just "TMJ" or "TMD") is the name used for several conditions that affect the jaw (technical term for jaw: Temporo Mandibular Joint). Sufferers of TMJ may have difficulty opening and closing their mouths, especially when trying to speak and chew. TMJ can also cause clicking noises, muscle tightness, earaches and rushing or ringing in the ears, a feeling of the jaws grinding or grating, and pain. Headaches, shoulder, and neck pain can also be associated with this disorder and may be the first thing noticed before TMJ sets in. Muscle spasms, tenderness and swelling of the face and neck can also accompany TMJ.

Everyone has heard of someone being forced into orthodontic braces in an attempt to relieve the pain and malfunction, but it is extremely costly, painful, and takes forever. Bite guards left over from football is another "remedy". Based on the cause of TMJ, we chiropractors think we have a better solution.

In a book called Orofacial Pain: Guidelines for Assessment, Diagnosis and Management the author discusses that the pain felt in the jaw can be caused by pain originating from the cervical (neck) region. Another text indicates that muscle spasm in the jaw region may indicate cervicocranial dysfunction. (This means a malfunction of the bones of the skull and the delicate bones of the neck.)

Once the bones are carefully realigned, using specific, scientifically tried and true chiropractic adjustments, the muscle spasms let up, the clicking noises and grating quit and you can resume a normal, pain-free life.