Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) in Cologne

Our masseter muscles are connected with our neck and back muscles via the skull. If we have a naturally healthy dentition, every tooth meets its partner vertically on the other side and both jaws are exposed to an even strain.

If this alignment is now disturbed by the loss of teeth or by new dental prosthesis, e.g. crowns, being defective, this disharmony doesn’t, unfortunately, only have a negative impact on the tooth and the periodontium. The masseter muscles try to remedy this imbalance by erroneously putting strain on themselves. Since, after all, these muscles have to compensate for this dysfunction every single day, so as to unable the affected patient to continue to chew normally, a very great performance is demanded of this muscle group. However, this permanently exceeds their capacity and they enlist the “help” of their close associates – the neck and shoulder muscles – to enable this disparity to be rectified.

This regulatory circuit is termed temporomandibular dysfunction or TMD for short.

One of the most frequently-encountered distinguishing characteristics of a TMD is teeth grinding or clenching. Women are affected by this eight times more frequently than men. This hyperactivity of the masticatory system, which usually occurs by night, can give rise not only to headaches, neck aches and backache, but also to dizziness, vestibular disorders, This vicious circle has to be interrupted as soon as possible.

To achieve this, first and foremost the cause of the erroneous stress has to be found.

For this purpose, a state-of-the-art diagnostic instrument is available to the patients in our surgery clinic. It is based on the evolutionary history, going back more than 40 years, of neuromuscular-oriented dentistry, and is appreciated worldwide on account of its reliability and ease of handling. Both science and everyday practice have shown that a stable dentition in which muscles, joints and teeth work in harmony plays a key role in the production of new dentures (e.g. crowns, bridges, or prosthesis). The SinfoMedK7 System (www.sinfomed.de) makes it possible for the dentist to record patients’ complete masticatory systems three-dimensionally and to digitally present and selectively assess any disharmony that may exist. In addition, the muscles are loosened with relatively small electrical impulses (TENS Therapy), thus allowing bite registration to be carried out with muscles in optimally relaxed positions.

The bite register having been optimally configured by means of the SinfoMedK7 device, the therapy appliances or dental prosthesis can now be fabricated in our master laboratory. With the help of dentures thus produced or plastic bite blocks, which usually have to be worn at night, the patient and their muscles can relax and then bite again at full strength!

The aim is that patients should get a maximally relaxed bite by means of bite blocks or dentures so that they need not use their muscle power to compensate for any disharmony in their dentition. i.e. a good bite doesn’t only help you to chew but also to rectify other muscular malfunctions.

If a TMD should not be the reason for your teeth grinding or clenching, a so- called jig, that only comes into contact with the front teeth, will help. This allows the regulatory circuit to be interrupted by neuromuscular means, so that the build-up of pressure due to teeth grinding or clenching is impeded right from the start.

We are listed on www.cmd-arztsuche.de – This portal informs patients about temporomandibular disorder or temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD).