Stress and TMJ: Does it Play a Role?

We’ve used stress as a co-factor, a co-contributor to problems. TMJ issues are really broad-spectrum diagnoses that can be:

• An internal problem inside the joint
• An internal derangement
• Or more commonly an occlusal muscle type problem

If the occlusion is off, we can get hyper activity of the muscles. It can really create a myriad of problems from pain and dysfunction to wear, mobility migration of the teeth and potentially even changes in the joint itself.

The thing to realize is that if the patient has a mechanical problem and they start to develop issues with the pain, pain in itself is stressful.

If the patients have outside stresses in their life and they have stress in their life from the TMJ problem or the occlusal muscle type issue, then we can definitely see a tendency for the pain to be perceived as worse.

What we don’t believe is that stress all by itself is going to cause a problem with the masticatory system. So if we view stress primarily as a co-contributor to the issue and we direct our attention to fixing the mechanical problem, often, stress will then be relieved in their life by virtue of getting control of this problem. The pain will be relieved.