If you’re one of the roughly 10 million Americans that suffers from temporomandibular joint disorder and you’ve had braces, your jaw pain could be a result of your past orthodontic treatment. Temporomandibular joint disorder, more commonly known as TMJ, causes chronic pain and dysfunction in the jaw joints and muscles that control jaw movement. The condition can be caused by a number of things including facial trauma, stress or teeth grinding. However, few people think to make the connection between TMJ pain and braces. As a neuromuscular dentist who specializes in treating TMJ, Dr. Buck routinely sees patients whose TMJ pain is a direct result of wearing braces.