What Is TMJ Dysfunction?

TMJ stands for “Temporomandibular Joint” — your jaw joint. If you’re reading this, you likely experience severe TMJ pain, popping, clicking or a combination of them in your jaw when you open your mouth — this is often referred to as “TMJ dysfunction.” This can be frustrating, painful, and difficult to live with. People with TMJ problems often experience bruxism as well (teeth grinding) which can lead to headaches, teeth problems, and more — bruxism is related but also slightly different. You can find an article on bruxism here.

Common treatment for TMJ dysfunction includes either surgery or a mouth bite guard to attempt to reduce the symptoms of pain and/or popping, clicking, etc.

Unfortunately, neither of these truly address the foundational causes of TMJ dysfunction. Therefore, while they might provide some temporary relief, whatever is truly causing the TMJ problems is still present. And if these driving factors are still present, there is a 100% guaranteed chance they are affecting other parts of your health as well (energy, digestion, sleep, focus, menstrual cycles, mood, pain, endurance, etc.). It is important to get to the source of health problems so (1) you can heal from your complaint and (2) your body as a whole can heal. Chances are, you believe the same and that’s why you’re here.

TMJ Dysfunction Signs & Symptoms

• Jaw pain or tenderness
• Aching pain in and around your ear.
• Difficulty chewing or pain while chewing.
• Clicking or popping in your jaw
• Facial pain
• Locking of the jaw joint
• Headaches coming from your jaw joints

Causes of TMJ Dysfunction

Disclaimer: TMJ problems can result from a variety of causes and usually a combination of causes. These causes mentioned below and the most common causes. Other things like liver stress and toxicities can also play a big piece with TMJ health. 

High Estrogen levels, high stress hormone levels (Cortisol mainly), the immune system, blood sugar dysregulation, and fascial imbalances all play huge parts with the TMJ. The hormones (estrogen and cortisol) and the immune system largely impacts our connective tissues, specifically our ligaments, while the fascial imbalances affects the tracking of our jaw as our muscles open and close it.

It’s important to remember the TMJ is not your standard joint where 2 bones fit together with cartilage, ligaments, and muscles connecting them. The TMJ joint is primarily a “hinge” joint which means it is more held together by ligaments (the massive ligamentous disc capsule within the TMJ) and muscles compared to the bones fitting snug into each other. Therefore, you could have TMJ problems because of ligament problems. If you have fascial imbalances, for example, you could have TMJ problems because the muscles are putting the jaw more in one direction as you try to open and close your mouth.

High Estrogen

High estrogen levels are by far the number one cause of TMJ problems in women because of the stress and dysfunction they cause on ligaments. First, understand there are 3 main types of estrogens and they are often referred to as “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” These 3 estrogen types are: 2-OH Estrogen (the “good”), 4-OH estrogen (the “bad”), and 16-OH estrogen (the “ugly”). Healthy hormone levels include normal levels of 2-OH estrogen and low to zero levels of the 4-OH estrogens and 16-OH estrogens. Most people who have too high of estrogens have toxic levels of the “bad” estrogens (4-OH estrogens).

Further, it is important to remember that estrogen is always related to progesterone and it is the imbalance of these that causes problems. “High estrogen levels,” for example, could really be the due to low progesterone levels. It is all about balance. If you struggle with uterine fibroids or Pre-menstrual symptoms, you also have an estrogen-progesterone imbalance. Considering reading our articles on those topics here.

SOLUTION: If estrogen is high, detox estrogens with things like Artichoke, Chromium, and Magnesium. Also, decrease estrogen exposure by decreasing exposure to plastics, chemicals, and impure make-up products. Infections may also be producing the toxic estrogens in which case you will need to kill them with the proper herbals.

If estrogen is high due to low progesterone, consider getting to the source of the low progesterone. Low progesterone usually comes from what is called the “progesterone steal” where the adrenals are constantly making more stress hormones and turn progesterone into cortisol to help with that process. You need to support the adrenals in this case so it stops stealing your progesterone. Infections and poor thyroid function also commonly contribute to low progesterone issues.

High Cortisol

High cortisol levels also very commonly affect our ligaments. For males, this is likely the most common cause of connective tissue disorders and ligament problems. It is also a huge problem in women who struggle with TMJ problems as well.

Cortisol is released from the adrenal glands in response to stress, low blood sugar, or low blood pressure. These are not the only reasons why cortisol is released but the main ones for this discussion.

Cortisol, when released, naturally breaks down proteins. The proteins then get sent to the liver to be converted into glucose to then increase our blood sugar (fight or flight sympathetic response). Therefore, since ligaments are made up 100% of proteins, they are largely negatively affected by stress hormones.

SOLUTION: Support the parasympathetic nervous system and your body against stress hormones through things like B3, Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Tulsi, choline, and beets (TMG). Focus on proper diaphragmatic breathing as well since it has been shown to literally increase the parasympathetic nervous system and decreased stress hormones–practice this at least 10-30 minutes a day.

Immune System

Stress to the immune system can also cause a lot of problems that affect the ligamentous system and thus our TMJ. Infections are the primary driver here. Parasites, bacteria, fungus, and viruses are all potential factors. Other things that cause stress to the immune system includes stress, inflammation, medications, vacc*nes, heavy metal toxicities, food allergies, and emotional traumas.

SOLUTION: You have to address each factor that is playing a part in your TMJ dysfunction — something we do every day in our office (read our approach below). Kill infections with the right herbals. Reduce stress through things mentioned in the previous section. Reduce inflammation with things like tumeric or resveratrol. If possible, avoid medications, vacc*nes and other synthetic substances. Detox heavy metals through proper minerals like selenium, zinc, magnesium, or lipoic acid. Balance the immune system from food allergies. And lastly, address the emotional traumas and treat reflexes to help the nervous system let it go and overcome it.

Blood Sugar Dysregulation

Blood sugar dysregulation is simply what happens when our body does not control our blood sugar levels very well — this can result in either high blood sugar OR low blood sugar.

What happens is usually there is something that really stresses our body to the point it isn’t able to manage glucose well anymore. Often times it’s one of the following: high stress hormones, trans fats, inflammation, medications or other synthetic substances, or hormone imbalances.

SOLUTION: You have to address each factor playing a part — something we do every day in our office (read our approach below).

Fascial Imbalances

Lastly, fascial imbalances or adhesions can also greatly contribute to TMJ dysfunction. When fascial imbalances are present, it affects the muscles that are responsible for the TMJ moving in a balanced and fully functional way. This can result in a greater tug in one direction then causing popping, clicking, or pain with the TMJ joint.

SOLUTION: Balance the fascial system through manual therapies (think deep tissue-like massage) and adequate movement everyday. The technique we do in our office, Systems Health Care, is second to none in the category of addressing the fascial system. A simple recommendation I give for patients is to also purchase and use a massage ball roller — usually ~$10 online. Roll over every part of your muscles and tissues you can reach with a medium pressure to get into the tissues. Adequate movement such as walking, running, crawling, and climbing are also great ways to help your body balance it’s own fascial system.

Our Approach

We utilize a functional approach in our office which means we are more concerned with understanding how the body is functioning, rather than just addressing the symptoms. We use Systems Health Care, a profound and advanced integrative technique, to get to the source of TMJ problems and find answers and amazing results.

Whether someones TMJ dysfunction is caused by high estrogens, high stress hormones, immune system problems, blood sugar problems, or fascial imbalances, we can easily begin to understand the factors at play and exactly how to address them. Many functional doctors will need to run expensive advanced testing to get to the root of issues, however, we rarely find that we need to do that.

In order to rebalance your TMJ and reverse any pain, clicking, or popping, you have to get to the root underlying causes. If you have any questions, reach out and we’d love to help.

Suffering From TMJ Dysfunction?

At Freedom Health and Wellness, we address all of these things and more through a personalized and functional approach. We help people with chronic diseases and illnesses regain their health by getting to the source of their health concerns.