Jaw Joint Disorder and Its Link to Anxiety
Whether it’s trouble at work, the anticipation before a big test, or before making an important decision, anxiety affects a lot of people. It can be described as fear, dread, or uneasiness about the future and is usually accompanied by regular sweating and restless or tense feelings. When someone feels tense, one of the first things they tend to do is clench their jaw, and so begins the connection between jaw joint disorders and anxiety.
Jaw Joint Dysfunction
Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) is a condition of dysfunctional performance of the jaw joint. This can happen as a result of trauma, genetics, or environmental factors like diet and habits. One of the more popular causes of TMD is poor alignment between the lower jaw to the head and neck.
When the jaw joint is dysfunctional, the muscles and joints of the jaw and neck have to compensate to keep the jaw joint as operational as possible. TMD is associated with:
- Jaw discomfort and soreness
- Headaches
- Pain behind the eyes, in the face, shoulder, neck, and back
- Earaches or ringing in the ears
- Jaw clicking or popping
- Poor posture
How Else Does Jaw Dysfunction Contribute to Anxiety?
One of those symptoms of TMD is poor posture, specifically forward head posture (FHP). When the surrounding muscles compensate for poor jaw function, their workload is spread thin and means more support for the jaw and less for everything else. As those muscles endure additional strain, the nervous system gets stuck in a sympathetic mode, triggering their “fight or flight” response, which is likened to anxiety.
Symptoms of Anxiety
As the issue goes on, people can become more and more crippled by the relentlessness of their anxiety. Some of the things commonly experienced in cases of chronic anxiety disorders such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) are:
- Restlessness
- Tense
- Fatigued or tired
- Irritable
- Distracted
- Worried
Contact Balance Epigenetic Orthodontics Today
If you live near Lynnwood, WA, and would like to learn more about TMD treatment options, contact Dr. Buck by calling our office at (425) 329-4682 or fill out our contact form.
