When dental trauma becomes problematic, our specialists can provide treatments to help our patients ease through their injuries by using unique approaches that combine dental and chiropractic care.
What is dental trauma?
Any injury to the teeth, gums, bone, and tissues along the lips, tongue, and jawline is considered a form of dental trauma. However, dental trauma is typically due to a direct force to the teeth or a force to the mandible, causing tooth-to-tooth contact from falls or accidents. There are various types of dental trauma, and these include:
Lip, Tongue, and Tooth Injuries: Mouth injuries are the most common type of injuries experienced, accounting for at least 39% of all types of dental trauma. These types of mouth injuries include the following:
- Tooth fractures: Injuries that cause chippings, cracks, and fractures to a tooth. Most tooth fractures are superficial, meaning the fracture is only limited to the enamel but can also be serious, whereby the fracture extends deep into the jaw bone.
- Displaced teeth: Other injuries can cause the tooth to get displaced from its socket. The blood vessels also get damaged and need immediate treatment to save the tooth.
- Avulsed teeth: Some injuries can completely knock out the tooth and often require immediate attention from an emergency dentist to surgically replace the tooth back in the socket.
- Soft tissue injury: In other cases, injuries to the mouth can lead to soft tissue damage to the tongue and gums, among other areas of the mouth.
Temporomandibular Joint Injuries: Although not as common, TMJ injuries can happen during contact and collision sports and can cause joint dysfunction, pain during chewing, limited range of motion, and jaw pain. With TMJ injuries, the most common symptoms and causes of these injuries include:
- Direct Mandible Trauma: Most injuries to the TMJ occur along the mandible area, irritating the synovial fluid, ligament laxity, and other derangements.
- TMJ Dislocation: Some injuries can completely knock out the mandible jaw from the TMJ socket, causing it to dislocate, leading to a limited range of motion and pain.
- Chronic Stress: In some cases, symptoms of an injury can be exacerbated by stress. People facing varying stress levels throughout their lives may cause further pain along the TMJ area from a previous injury.
- Structural Anomalies: Signs of malocclusion, decreased joint space, and missing teeth can alter how the mandibular joint functions and increase the risk of TMD.
Depending on the trauma’s symptoms and location, the injury can lead to long-term complications. At JawMatrix, our team can help treat the immediate problems and plan long terms solutions to your dental trauma.
Dental trauma treatment with long-term solutions at JawMatrix
Before evaluating a tooth injury, our team will consider evaluating you for a concussion and head or neck injury and, if necessary, refer you to your nearest location for emergency care. For long-term treatments, mouth guards, posture correction, soft-tissue mobilization, and other physiotherapy methods can be applied to help you heal from your injuries and keep your jawline healthy.
From the moment you enter the door, you’ll be welcomed by a team of caring staff members who will work with you to achieve your goals for jaw pain relief. Contact JawMatrix in Burbank, CA, to schedule an appointment today!