Your healthcare professional will likely discuss your symptoms and study your jaw by:

• Listening to and feeling your jaw when you open and close your mouth.

• Watching the range of motion in your jaw.

• Pressing on areas around your jaw to find sites of pain or discomfort.

If your healthcare professional thinks there is an issue, you may need:

• Dental X-rays to look at your teeth and jaw.

• CT scan to show detailed images of the bones involved in the joint.

• MRI to show issues with the joint’s disk or surrounding soft tissue.
  
  TMJ arthroscopy is sometimes used to diagnose a TMJ disorder.During TMJ arthroscopy, your healthcare professional inserts a small thin tube called a cannula into the joint space. Then a small camera called an arthroscope is inserted to look at the area and help find a diagnosis. TMJ arthroscopy also is sometimes used to treat TMJ disorder. The procedure can help with therapy, such as releasing scar tissue and removing inflammatory soft tissue and byproducts to improve TMJ symptoms and help the jaw move without pain.

Care at ivory dental solutions for TMJ disorders

• Team approach. Team members work together to address your TMJ disorder in a coordinated way. Your team may include a dentist, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, pain management specialist, prosthodontist and others, if needed.

• Diagnostic and treatment options. The experts can offer advanced diagnostic evaluations and various treatment options for TMJ disorders. These options include medicines, therapies and surgery.

• Surgical treatment. It’s rare to need surgery on the temporomandibular joint. But when surgery is needed, the oral and maxillofacial surgeons have extensive experience in the full range of TMJ surgical procedures, from arthroscopic surgery to open-joint surgery.

TMJ surgeons also use Clinic’s advanced 3D imaging and 3D printing resources to plan complex surgical procedures. This type of virtual surgical planning has been proven to enhance surgical outcomes. In some situations, a 3D-printed TMJ prosthesis is used for a total joint replacement.

Temporomandibular joint pain can be caused by multiple factors. If treated at an early age, the patient usually responds with non invasive procedures.