Getting dentures can be a life-changing experience. Although some people find that they have the best smile of their lives and they love their dentures, many people experience several negative effects related to their dentures. In addition to limitations in eating and dentures that don’t stay in, many people develop TMJ.
TMJ is short for disorders of the temporomandibular joint, which is the joint that attaches your jaw to your skull on either side. However, although this is a jaw disorder, the symptoms can be widespread.
Common TMJ Symptoms
So what kind of symptoms are associated with TMJ? There are many symptoms that people can experience, including:
- Jaw pain
- Jaw popping or clicking
- Irregular jaw motion
- Sore gums under dentures
- Accelerated denture wear, often uneven
- Broken dentures
- Headaches
- Neck pain
- Ringing ears
- Ear fullness
- Ear pain
- Back pain
- Tingling and numbness in the fingers
These may seem like a lot of different symptoms, and they are. TMJ can disrupt much of your body through a number of mechanisms. Most commonly, TMJ stresses your jaw muscles, which get sore. These muscles can then recruit other muscles to help them function, which can transmit soreness to those partner muscles, in the head, neck, and back.
When your jaw isn’t in the right position, it can cause the cushioning disc in the jaw to come out of place, which is what causes jaw popping and irregular jaw motion.
Imbalance in the jaw can lead to imbalanced pressure on the dentures. This can cause sore gums, increase wear on your dentures, or even cause them to break.
Other symptoms are caused by pinched nerves or pressure on delicate systems.
Linking Symptoms to Your Dentures
So how do you know that your dentures are causing or contributing to your TMJ? Here are a few signs that the two might be linked:
- Symptoms started when you got dentures
- Symptoms worsen over the day as you wear your dentures
- You feel more comfortable with dentures out than in
- You have denture symptoms like wear and gum soreness
If you have reason to suspect that your dentures are causing your symptoms, we can help. We can immediately adjust your dentures to fit better, which will help. But then we can design and fit a set of neuromuscular dentures to relieve your symptoms over the long term
Let Us Help
If you have developed TMJ symptoms that you think might be linked to your dentures, it’s best to act quickly. Your symptoms will only worsen with time, and can cause permanent damage to your jaw that might require surgery to correct.
Please call (803) 781-9090 today for an appointment with a Columbia, SC denture dentist at Smile Columbia Dentistry.
