A Simple Guide to Temporomandibular Joint Disorders, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Temporomandibular Joint Disorders, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

My 16 year old grand-daughter had a painful jaw 1 month ago during a physical exercise in school.

She felt a dull pain in the jaw while opening and closing her jaw.

She felt as though her mouth cannot be opened easily.

If she tried to open it bigger there is pain.

She also felt that the jaw is very tight and difficult to open.

Her mother was only able to get dental appointment 2 days later.

So she decided to come and consult me instead even though I have no dental experience.

However I have gone through Ear Nose and Throat department which treat such conditions.

When I examined her jaws there was a tightness of the temporomandibular joints on both sides.

She told me the jaws felt like they were stuck and she could not open her mouth completely as previously.

The temporomandibular joints on palpation were swollen and pushed forward and sideways.

I placed my fingers on both the joints and pressed them downwards and backwards.

She immediately felt relief in both joints.

She was able to open her jaws properly.

I used a cloth bandage to tie the jaw to the top of the head to keep the position of the reduced TMJ joint.

Unfortunately once she reached home she took the cloth bandage off because she felt embarrassed by the bandage on her head.

She felt better the next day but doing the physical exercise together with shouting made her feel that the jaw was tight again.

So she returned the next day and I did the same reduction of the TMJ for her.

I told her not to take off the cloth bandage.

Since then she had no problem with her jaws.

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD) is a group of disorders that produce pain and loss of normal function to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) or jaw joint.

The normal symptoms are pain in TMJ, limitation of mandibular movement, and TMJ sounds.

The temporomandibular joint is sited in front of the ear, on both sides of the head.

The joint is composed of the lower jawbone and the skull.

A cartilage disk, which acts as a shock absorber and joint lubricant, separates these 2 bones.

The TMJ and the muscles of chewing allow the patient to open the mouth, talk and chew.

Causes of TMD can be due to:

Prolonged stress to the jaw joint
Habitual clenching or grinding of the teeth that overloads the joint, producing pain in the joint and muscles.

The patient may not be aware of these habits if they happen during sleep.

Trauma
A recent trauma or a history of injury such as a blow to the lower jaw or face can damage the TMJ.

Arthritis
The TMJ joint may be injured by arthritis

Arthritis is a degenerative process due to aging or linked with medical disorders such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Idiopathic TMJ cause:
The precise cause in many people with temporomandibular joint disorders is not known.

Symptoms

Noises
The patient may hear clicking or jarring sounds on opening or closing the mouth.

Pain
Dull pain, on opening and closing of the mouth, can be felt over the jaw joint area

Restriction in mouth opening and closing
Jaw movements may be reduced.

Diagnosis

MRI scans may be essential

Treatment

Relaxation and restoring correct joint coordination
Medicines
Arthrocentesis
Arthroscopy

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Temporomandibular Joint Disorders
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Bruxism (Teeth Clenching)
Chapter 8 Toothache
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Mar 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005038311

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Temporomandibular Joint Disorders,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2022 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Temporomandibular Joint Disorders, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Temporomandibular Joint Disorders)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder

My 16 year old grand-daughter had a painful jaw 1 month ago during a physical exercise in school.

She felt a dull pain in the jaw while opening and closing her jaw.

She felt as though her mouth cannot be opened easily.

If she tried to open it bigger there is pain.

She also felt that the jaw is very tight and difficult to open.

Her mother was only able to get dental appointment 2 days later.

So she decided to come and consult me instead even though I have dental experience.

However I have gone through Ear Nose and Throat department which also treat such conditions.

When I examined her jaws there was a tightness of the temporomandibular joints on both sides.

She told me the jaws felt like they were stuck and she could not open her mouth completely as previously.

The temporomandibular joints on palpation were swollen and pushed forward and sideways.

I placed my fingers on both the joints and pressed them downwards and backwards.

She immediately felt relief in both joints.

She was able to open her jaws properly.

I used a cloth bandage to tie the jaw to the top of the head to keep the position of the reduced TMJ joint.

Unfortunately once she reached home she took the cloth bandage off because she felt embarrassed by the bandage on her head.

She felt better the next day but doing the physical exercise together with shorting made her feel that the jaw was tight again.

So she returned the next day and I did the same reduction of the TMJ for her.

I told