Tania Kovaluk is the CEO of the Kovaluk Dental Centre, where she provides exceptional dental care and treatments to her patients. She also provides valuable information on dental disorders.



The common symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ disorders) include headaches, dizziness, stiffness in the jaw joint, ear aches, ringing in the ears, teeth do not touch when biting, neck pain, pain behind the eyes, problems swallowing, fainting, shoulder or back pain, tingling or numbness in the fingers, clicking jaw, inability to open mouth wide, clenching/grinding teeth, worn teeth.

The clenching and grinding of the teeth results in additional stress being put on tired and overworked muscles which can result in pain being extended to the head, neck, face, shoulders or back. Often these headaches are so severe that they can be confused with migraine headaches. The pain is felt in the in the temple area, behind the eyes, and at the back of the head with pain radiating to the neck and shoulders. If TMJ is the cause of this pain then you should refer yourself to a dentist or a specialist with training in the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders.

The TMJ problem results in the temporomandibular joint making noises such as clicking, popping, or grinding sounds and jaws locked either open or closed. The objective of treating the TMJ disorder is to correct the problem of the dislocated disc when the jaw is still clicking and not wait until the later stages when the jaw can get locked either open or closed and the patient may experience a painful situation. If there pain in the ears along with the ringing or buzzing sound in the ears, a full or stuffy feeling without any ear infection, it could be a result of a structural problem in the TM joint. This could also result in loss of hearing, dizziness and loss of balance. Sometimes it can cause some of the muscles of mastication to go into a spasm which can cause any of the symptoms mentioned above.

During the treatment of TMJ disorders, the dentist will first try and relieve you of the pain and muscle spasm. Then the teeth will be corrected to fir together. An orthotic or splint is worn over the teeth until the bite is stabilized. Permanent reconstruction is done through selective reshaping of the teeth and building crowns over the teeth.

In reconstructive dentistry the natural teeth are ground down and caps or crowns placed on what is left of the natural tooth. The root and some of the tooth structure is left intact. In this procedure as the dentist is trying to maintain the habitual bite, all of the teeth may be prepared and crowned at once. This may also require that all the patient's crowns may be prepared in one appointment instead of going through them one quadrant at a time. Reconstructive dentistry done in this way restore the natural look to the face as the natural movement of the jaw bones is maintained.