Joint Treatment and Teeth Clenching/Grinding

Why do joint disorders occur?

There are many causes of joint disorders; they can occur suddenly as a result of a blow to the jaw area, or over time due to long-term teeth clenching. Joint disorders in general:

• Trauma

• With the effect of autoimmune diseases

• Stress-related teeth clenching and grinding effect

• As a result of long-term toothlessness

• It occurs as a result of faulty fillings and prostheses.

How to understand joint disorders?

Panoramic film provides general information about all teeth, lower and upper jaw bones, joints, maxillary sinuses and surrounding bone tissues in a single image and is usually sufficient for diagnosis. However, in necessary cases, periapical films, bite-wing radiographs can be taken from the relevant regions and 3-dimensional tomography examinations can be performed.

How to treat joint disorders?

Since joint disorders usually manifest themselves after a long deformation process, the primary goal of treatment is not to restore the tissues to their former state but to alleviate the patient's clinical findings (such as pain and limitation of mouth opening) and prevent the progression of the disease.

An important point in the treatment process is to correctly diagnose whether the basis of the joint disorder is bony and discal or muscular. While various medications and hard/soft plate treatments can be used in both cases, very successful results have been obtained recently with botox application in muscular disorders. In bony and discal disorders, intra-articular irrigation and hyaluronic acid injection provide beneficial results. If deemed necessary during the treatment process, patients can also be referred to a physical therapist.