Perry Dental & TMJ Center Logo

Exceptional
TMJ Treatment
and Care

in San Antonio, Texas

At Perry Dental, we’re proud to offer some of the most advanced and varied methods of TMJ treatment in the greater San Antonio area. Read on to learn more about TMJ and our unique approach to treatment.

front desk
front desk

What is TMJ?

TMJ stands for “Temporomandibular Joint,” which is the joint that connects your jawbone (mandible) to your skull near your ear on each side. This joint allows you to perform various movements with your jaw, such as chewing, talking, and yawning. It’s one of the most complex joints in the human body, with a combination of hinge and sliding motions.

It’s also possible that you only feel TMJ pain on one side because of an asymmetrical bite or teeth grinding. TMJ can flare up on one or both sides because of stress, head trauma, excessive chewing, teeth grinding, poor posture or bite issues. If you experience TMJ pain, you may need to look for a dentist for TMJ who specializes in alleviating this pain.

The Perry 3D Protocol Treats TMJ Pain and Headaches

Many people suffer from chronic headaches and TMJ/jaw pain. This pain can negatively impact your work, your family, and your overall quality of life. With that in mind, Dr. Perry developed the 3D Perry Protocol.

3D Stands for the Three Phases of Treatment:
Discovery, Diagnostic, and Definitive

The 3D Perry Protocol is a process that explores the many dimensions of the condition in order to identify the causative agents, then address and treat them – with the ultimate goal of helping our patients alleviate their pain.

1. Discovery Phase

During the discovery phase, Dr. Perry and the patient will begin a process of data gathering, utilizing a comprehensive approach to identifying the causative and compounding factors contributing to the patients’ pain. Dr. Perry looks at various aspects to discover the pain epicenter- from muscle and TMJ alignment, sleep habits, to tooth function, diet, and even sinus issues.

Dr. Perry has a trusted network of colleagues in the fields of nutrition, sinus health, neurology, sleep medicine, exercise physiology, and physical therapy to whom he refers his patients to for an evaluation if necessary.

While you undergo initial muscle rehabilitation in our office through modalities such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation, massage, and the utilization of various TMJ orthotic devices and/or Botox, we may refer you to his colleagues for treatment in their specialized fields.

2. Diagnostic Phase

If you have a bite imbalance issue, the bite study is one of the most critical elements of the Diagnostic Phase. This is a comprehensive evaluation of jaw function and can reveal if your teeth are interfering with proper jaw movement. During the Discovery and early Diagnostic Phases, we are relaxing and reprogramming your musculature to eliminate deleterious habits that have developed to compensate for the inefficiencies and imbalances in your bite.

Once these muscles cease to brace each other, Dr. Perry can determine if an underlying bite issue is causing your pain, or it can be ruled out and another condition may be diagnosed (ie: sinus condition, systemic inflammation caused by your diet, sleep apnea, etc.) and treated. Once TMJ is diagnosed in the diagnostic phase, we can move on to the Definitive Therapy Phase.

3. Definitive Therapy Phase

The Definitive Therapy Phase includes taking what we learned in the Diagnostic Phase and using it to determine your next treatment steps. If an underlying bite dysfunction is causing your pain, Dr. Perry will develop a comprehensive dental rehabilitation plan to stabilize your bite that will allow you to chew efficiently without pain. Treatments can range from minor tooth modification to total rehabilitation of the dentition. The prescribed treatment will be based on your individual needs, and Dr. Perry is extremely conservative in his treatment and will do everything he can to help his patients feel better. There is no “cookie cutter” approach. Dr. Perry diagnoses and treats each patient as an individual. Each person has their own story and their own history. Finding the cause is the first step to recovery.

Treatments for TMJ

Perry Dental offers many state of the art treatments to treat TMJ disorder and resolve pain for our patients.

Botox

Botox can be used for TMJ pain because it expediently alleviates temporomandibular tension by relaxing the jaw muscles, thus preventing unconscious jaw movement and ending grinding-related headaches. Botox for jaw clenching is a good form of treatment because normal functions such as speaking, swallowing, and biting are left unaffected. The only major change is the reduction in pain and discomfort.

TruDentaⓇ

TruDenta® systems have been designed to help find the cause of your headaches, migraines, TMJ, jaw pain, or face pain. A simple painless screening test can determine if TruDenta® is right for you. Through proven, state of the art technologies in the fields of advanced dentistry and sports medicine with TruDenta, you can finally get relieving TMJ headache treatment and migraine relief in a way that will:

  • Reduce your pain levels as well as the duration of pain
  • Provide headache relief without dependence on drug related solutions
  • Give you control of your healing process

TMJ Massage

The majority of problems involving TMJ and headaches arise from the muscles in the head and neck, which are connected to actions like chewing, speaking, and breathing. Dr. Chris Perry has collaborated with San Antonio Massage to craft a specialized approach that incorporates both conventional massage techniques and advanced medical methods such as ultrasound and cold laser therapy.

Controlling TMJ can also prevent serious dental problems from occurring later. TMJ, if left untreated, can contribute to tooth decay, gum disease, and the loosening of teeth. If you’re experiencing TMJ issues or discomfort potentially associated with TMJ, contact Perry Dental to schedule an evaluation. We’re committed to your overall oral health and comfort.