The jaw, a hidden gem to proper health

The jaw, a hidden gem to proper health.

The jaw or “TMJ” which stands for temporomandibular joint is often an overlooked or missed cause for many of our everyday health care issues.  The jaw joints are not given quite the appreciation they deserve in terms of the affect they can have on the rest of the body.  

The jaw has great importance.  Along with the teeth it forms the gateway for the air we breathe.  It also acts as the grinding mechanism for the foods that we eat.

The jaw gets a lot of its influence for proper growth and development before the age of 6.  A key to this growth is breast-feeding, which also provides the infant with passive immunity.  Both of which you miss out on when bottle-fed.  Two incredibly important factors for your baby! 

When there is a problem with the jaw we refer to it as TMD or “temporomandibular joint dysfunction”. This dysfunction can stick out like a sore thumb at times with clicking in the jaw when you open or close it or pain around the joint when you’re chewing.  However, 90% of the time when you have a jaw problem it will show up as everything but the previous two. 

Before we continue it’s important that we understand how the jaw is controlled within our nervous system.  Whether it’s your arms, legs or jaw it’s all controlled by the power plant, that’s the brain and spinal cord.  Inside the plant messages come in that are called the “sensory” messages or sensations like touch, pressure, hot, cold, etc.  Messages that go out of the plant are called “motor”.   This is the action, like moving your legs, which is under your control and other things that are just automatic like breathing and heartbeat. This automatic stuff you wouldn’t want to think about because if you forgot to do it you would be in big trouble!

All of this information is organized in the brain like a map.  Much like a map of the United States the states vary in size.  The head, especially the jaw is small in actual size compared to the rest of the body.  However, on the map within the brain it actually takes up the most space, much like California is one of our largest states in terms of the land that it comprises.  The reason for the head’s exaggerated size on the brain’s map is that it is packed with all of the vital information needed to make all the organs, muscles, and joints work.  The brain can be compared to the hard drive of a computer.  If the hard drive goes, everything is lost.

Dysfunction in the jaw can occur for many reasons.  It can occur during development as a child.  As we discussed previously that kids who are bottle-fed are more likely to have abnormal or slowed development in the jaws.  Traumas from incidences such as car accidents that cause 92% of sprains of the jaw and sports injuries are common causes for jaw injuries.

The most common cause of jaw dysfunction occurs from the patients themselves. Grinding of the teeth while sleeping, or clenching during daytime hours are among the most common causes of jaw related problems.

Jaw problems can present themselves as pain everywhere other than the jaw itself.  We often see people with secondary issues of headaches, neck, shoulder, lower back and even foot related conditions.  Yes, foot related conditions caused by primary problems in the jaw.  This occurs because the jaw has an overwhelming influence on the rest of the body and thus can affect such a far-reaching area such as the foot. 

 The jaw can be influenced by other factors.  An example would be a person who stands daily with a fallen arch in their foot. This can eventually cause muscle strain on the jaw.   This particular problem is commonly overlooked because one doesn’t associate the foot and jaw as being related to one another because they are so distant from one another.  But, regardless one can affect the other, either the foot affecting the jaw or vise versa. 

A thorough understanding of the jaw has to come from a global scale in terms of how it can affect the rest of the body and how the body can influence it alike. Most times the helpful hand of a dentist is essential towards helping various cases of TMD.   By taking a team approach towards helping patients with jaw problems both the chiropractor and dentist can help more TMJ patients attain a better quality of life.