Dentures are dental appliances used to replace missing teeth. They help restore your smile and dental structure. Dentures can also help with various TMD issues. They do so by replacing missing teeth and giving your jawbone the stability it needs. However, dentures could also cause TMD if worn wrongly or not fitting correctly.
DENTURES AND TMD
There are several ways that dentures can help people dealing with TMD issues. One of them is through neuromuscular dentures. These are special types of dentures that are designed with the purpose of treating TMD. They help patients with this condition achieve an optimal bite and ensure chewing pressure is evenly distributed across the jaws. This helps prevent TMD and bruxism.
Dentures could also lead to TMD. In most cases, the cause of TMD is a misaligned bite. When your teeth are lost or damaged, your bite is affected significantly, leading to teeth that don't fit together. When this happens, your jaw and the muscles around it become sore, fatigued, and misaligned. You could also experience pain when your jaw joint is misaligned or imbalanced due to TMD. Furthermore, your teeth will start showing signs of excessive wear and tear.
Therefore, when your dentures are not fitting properly and cannot support a good bite, they are more likely to cause TMD. This can happen after several weeks of using misfitting dentures. Symptoms like popping in the jaw, headaches, difficulty moving the jaw, neck pain, and pain in the jaw occur. You can experience pain in the ears, dizziness, or ringing in your ears in severe cases.
This means that dentures can help with TMD and can also cause it. Well-fitting dentures are ideal and can help improve TMD symptoms. Contact our offices for more information on the relationship between dentures and TMD.