9 Amazing TMJ Home Remedies

TMJ home remedies are the initial steps to manage the symptoms of TMJD¹. You may not give more importance to Temporomandibular Joint ²(TMJ), but they play a huge role in the chewing, swallowing, and talking process. The temporomandibular joint connects your skull with your jawbone (lower).

TMJ home remedies are used for curing any disorder in your jaw joints or jaw muscles. You can also do TMJ home remedies to keep your jaw muscles and jaw joints healthy and active.

Symptoms of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders (TMJD)

TMJD is observed in so many people and is quite common among Americans as stated in a piece of a report by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. This may also happen due to several other health problems such as arthritis, inflammation, jaw injury, and overuse of jaw muscles.

TMJD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorders³) symptoms would be mild and weaken some parts of your face as well due to pain and discomfort. Some of the common TMJD symptoms are the following:

• Struggle or pain while chewing
• Pain in the neck, ear, or face
• Pain in jaw
• Popping or grating sound in the jaw when you open your mouth or you close it.
• Minor headaches (intensity may vary from person to person)

TMJ Home Remedies

There are some TMJ home remedies that will help Temporomandibular disorders. Some of the effective home remedies for TMJ disorders are:

1. Heat or Cold Therapy

You could apply ice packs or warm water packs to your face and jaw muscles for pain relief.

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  For Heat Therapy

  
  

Take a clean soft cloth and dump it in warm water. Then take off the cloth and squeeze the extra water in it. Then apply the cloth to your jaw muscles or face.

Hold that for 2-3 minutes. You could do it till you feel relief.

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  For Cold Therapy

  
  

Start it by taking ice cubes and wrapping them in a clean soft cloth. Then apply the ice packs over your impacted area (face or jaw muscles) for soothing effects and to reduce pain.

Heat or cold therapy is also recommended by experts and doctors. You could consult your doctor to note the exact time of holding the ice pack or warm cloth.

2. Omega-3

The TMJ disorder could also come because of inflammation and inflamed muscles. For that omega-3 would work effectively in reducing inflammation and relaxing muscle tension due to inflammation.

Omega-3 is a common nutrient required for your whole body and will do magic for TMJD. You could also have supplements of omega 3 as per the doctor’s recommendation, or take in naturally thought various fruits and vegetables.

3. Eat Soft Foods

TMJ pain aggravates after consuming hard food as they are difficult to chew and swallow. You need to give some rest to your jaw muscles as another reason for TMJD is the overuse of jaw muscles. You should eat food that is soft and easy to chew such as soups, mashed potatoes, eggs, and soft-cooked foods.

4. Massage

Massage is a great TMJ home remedy to get over muscle spasms due to TMJD. You should open and close your jaw slowly for 50-60 seconds to relax your jaw muscles. You could also connect with a physical therapist for suggestions to help muscle spasms or jaw pain.

Massage will also help in the proper stretching of your jaw muscles and overall face. Stretching of muscles will reduce pain calm the tension formed in the muscles and stimulate blood flow.

5. Bite Guard

Wearing a bite guard or mouthguard would definitely reduce pain because of TMJD. Sometimes, temporomandibular joint disorder happens because of grinding your teeth for a long time. Bite guard prevents your grinding teeth (excessive wear), promotes sleep, and reduces pain.

You could wear the bite guard, especially at night to improve your sleep by preventing teeth grinding and hence reducing the pain of jaw muscles and face.

6. Exercises

There are a few exercises that will help with the unpleasant symptoms of TMJD.⁴ You could practice exercises such as:

• Golden fish exercise
• Chin tucks
• Resisted opening and closing of the mouth
• Tongue up

Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) exercises are more effective in opening your mouth than any other protective device such as a mouth guard, according to a study published by the Journal of Dental Research.

All these exercises will make your jaw muscles strong and relaxed at the same time. These exercises will also improve jaw mobility and stretch. Ultimately exercises for the jaw will reduce jaw pain and increase the jaw healing process.⁵

7. Physical Therapy

Not only medications, but physical therapy could also help to relieve TMJD pain. You could consult your doctor before stepping into physical therapy. Physical therapy includes ultrasound and various other treatments.

In some physical therapy, moist heat and ice processes are included which gives good results for treating TMJD.

8. Diet

You need to fix your diet with foods rich in anti-inflammatory properties⁶. Foods with ingredients like turmeric, ginger, fatty fish, kale, and spinach would help reduce inflammation and pain. You could also eat broth prepared using these ingredients for a faster healing process.

9. Muscle Relaxants

Muscle relaxants are great TMJ home remedies that you could try. Muscle relaxants are effective in reducing jaw pain and other disorders. Muscle relaxants will relax your joint muscle or jaw by reducing the pain and providing soothing effects.

These are also helpful for decreasing the intensity of pain associated with muscle spasms. Be warned! muscle relaxants are medications that can only be taken for a few days or weeks as per your doctor’s recommendation.

You should always stick to the instructions present on the label of these muscle relaxants. Botox is one of the most popular muscle relaxants for helping TMJ, but use them only after a doctor’s recommendation.

Key Takeaways

TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) needs proper attention to prevent TMJD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorders). These TMJ home remedies may not work for people with high-intensity symptoms of TMJD.

In that case, you need to schedule an appointment with your doctor. Go ahead! and try out these astounding TMJ home remedies for soothing and calming the unpleasant symptoms of TMJ.

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1. Riolo, Michael L., Douglas Brandt, and Thomas R. TenHave. “Associations between occlusal characteristics and signs and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction in children and young adults.” American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 92.6 (1987): 467-477. ↩︎
2. Buescher, Jennifer J. “Temporomandibular joint disorders.” American family physician 76.10 (2007): 1477-1482. ↩︎
3. Sharma, Shalender, et al. “Etiological factors of temporomandibular joint disorders.” National journal of maxillofacial surgery 2.2 (2011): 116-119. ↩︎
4. Cordeiro, Ivoney Bittencourt, and Antônio Sérgio Guimarães. “Profile of patients with temporomandibular joint disorder: main complaint, signs, symptoms, gender and age.” RGO. Revista Gaúcha de Odontologia (Online) 60.2 (2012): 143-148. ↩︎
5. Kołaciński, Michał, Marcin Kozakiewicz, and Andrzej Materka. “Textural entropy as a potential feature for quantitative assessment of jaw bone healing process.” Archives of Medical Science 11.1 (2015): 78-84. ↩︎
6. Villarino, Alejandro V., Elaine Huang, and Christopher A. Hunter. “Understanding the pro-and anti-inflammatory properties of IL-27.” The Journal of Immunology 173.2 (2004): 715-720. ↩︎

Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by ayeshayusuf