Temporomandibular Disorders

Many people who suffer from such seemingly disparate symptoms such as headaches, earaches, tenderness of the jaw joints or muscles, or dull aching facial pain, often share a common problem. They may suffer from a family of problems related to the jaw muscles and the jaw (temporomandibular, or "TM") joint.

These problems are often referred to as TM disorders. The muscles and joints may not function properly, resulting in cycles of pain and spasm.

TM disorders have many signs and symptoms. Some of the most common ones include:

• Pain in or around the ear, sometimes spreading to the face.
• Tenderness of the jaw muscles.
• Clicking or popping noise when one opens or closes the mouth.
• Difficulty in opening one's mouth
• Jaws that "get stuck", "lock" or "go out."
• Pain brought on by yawning, chewing or opening the mouth widely
• Certain types of headaches or neckaches.

Your dentist can recommend a course of treatment by taking a complete history, conducting a clinical examination and by taking appropriate x-rays, or perhaps some other diagnostic tests. To the extent that causes of your TM disorder can be identified, proper diagnosis is an important step before treatment. It can save time and money by ensuring that you receive the treatment appropriate for your particular problem.

SIP ALL DAY - GET DECAY

How much pop do you drink in an average week? Soft drinks are no longer an occasional treat. They've become a daily habit for a growing number of people, especially kids, teens and young adults. A steady diet of soft drinks is a leading cause of tooth decay.

Here's how you get cavities:

— Suger in pop combines with bacteria in your mouth to form acid.
— Diet or "sugar-free" pop contains its own acid.
— Acid in soft drinks, whether they contain sugar or not, is the primary cause of weakening tooth       enamel.
— The acid attacks your teeth. Each acid attack lasts about 20 minutes.
— The acid attack starts over again with every sip.
— Ongoing acid attacks weaken your tooth enamel.
— Bacteria in your mouth cause cavaties when tooth enamel is damaged.
— If you have a receding gum line, acid does more damage below the gum line than above it. This is       particularly a concern for adults.

A 16-year-old had no cavities last year; zip, zero, zilch, nada. This is a picture of the same person's teeth one year later with 15 cavities. GROSS is right!

A bottle of pop in the '50s was 6.5 ounces; today, a 12 ounce can is standard and 20 ounce bottle is common. Larger container sizes mean more calories, more sugar and more acid in a single serving. A 64 ounce "Big Cup" has more than five cans of pop in a single serving! There is NO nutritional value in soft drinkgs. In regular pop, all of the calories come from sugar. In addition to cavities, heavy pop consumption has been linked to diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis. One-fifth of all one and two-year-old children drink pop. Today, teens drink three times more pop than 20 years ago, often replacing milk. Soft drink companies pay high schools and middle schools big bucks to offer their products. Sealants only protect tooth chewing surfaces. Pop decay tends to occur where sealants can't reach.

What Dentists Say About Sipping All Day

"I can spot frequent pop drinkers easily by looking at their teeth."

"I had a 16-year-old patient in with 30 sever cavities. He admitted he drank two Mountain Dews for breakfast, drank one on the bus, and then had four or five at school. He figured he drank 1- to 12 pops a day and said he can't stop."

"Sweetened soda is to teeth as cigarettes are to lungs."

Students have the power to change the beverages offered in their schools. Speak up and ask your school administrators for beverages that won't harm your teeth. Parents can talk to their children about the effects of soda pop consumption. Monitor what, how much and when they drink. Encourage healthy alternatives such as milk and water.

© 2002 Minnesota Dental Association. All rights reserved.