Temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ) is a condition that affects the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ. The TMJ is located where your lower jaw attaches to your skull, and it’s responsible for opening and closing your mouth.
TMJ syndrome can cause pain in your ears, face, neck, and shoulders. Symptoms can include clicking or popping sounds when you open or close your mouth, headaches behind your eyes or in the back of your head, pain in your jaw joints that gets worse when chewing food or opening bottles with caps on them, and problems sleeping due to discomfort from nighttime movements of the jaw during sleep.
If you’re suffering from these symptoms and think it might be TMJ syndrome, visit a doctor who specializes in disorders of the jaws. Your doctor will determine whether you have this condition by examining you physically and asking questions about your symptoms.
If they diagnose you with TMJ syndrome they will recommend treatment options based on how severe the pain is and how long it has been going on for. Treatments include physical therapy sessions focused on stretching muscles around the jaw area; medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen & steroid injections into muscle tissue near the joint.