Blue and white mouth guard on white background.

Do you experience pain and discomfort in your jaw and face? If you answered yes, you may have TMJ disorder, a fairly common medical condition. Luckily, there are many treatment options available, one of which is splint therapy. Splint therapy involves the use of special splints or braces – that help to stabilize and reposition the jaw. In this blog post, we will discuss how splint therapy works and how it can help to alleviate the symptoms of TMJ disorder.

What is Splint Therapy?

You may have already heard the term "splint" in relation to treating athletic injuries, like a twisted ankle or a broken wrist. In dental practice, splint therapy is a type of dental treatment for TMJ disorder that involves the use of a mouth guard or bite plate to help resolve common symptoms resulting from occlusion. Some of the ways splint therapy does this include:

  • Relaxing jaw muscles and ligaments so that tension is alleviated in your mouth. This helps your mouth recover from the strain of teeth clenching or other jaw reactions.
  • Preventing further teeth grinding or bruxism that wears down teeth. As a result, you are able to protect and maintain as many of your natural teeth as possible.
  • Improving the alignment of the jaw to address your underbite or overbite. This can improve your biting and chewing while eating or breathing while at rest.

It may seem surprising that something as simple as a mouthguard could relieve the symptoms you’ve been suffering from. However, these are no common mouthguards. They are dental appliances engineered specifically to help improve the health of your mouth.

The Two Types of Splints

There are two types of splints that dentists utilize called stabilization and repositioning splints—each have a particular focus. One is designed to keep your bite in place, and the other is designed to adjust the jaw into an optimal position. Here are more specifics on how each type can benefit you.

Stabilization Splint

Patients who experience a lot of teeth grinding and clenching are the ideal candidates for stabilization splint therapy. This type of mouthguard covers all the teeth, helping keep the jaw in its current position while providing a barrier that eliminates tooth-to-tooth contact. Stabilization splints or mouthguards are typically worn overnight.

Repositioning Splint

Bone growth, injuries, tooth loss or wear, and other events can cause your jaw to move out of its ideal position. The resulting TMJ occlusion can be corrected through a repositioning splint, which should always be worn, except while eating meals. Failure to wear the splint regularly may cause the bite to revert back to the uneven alignment.

Keep in mind that splints might be made of hard or soft material, depending on the dental application. And while a mouth guard may be effective for managing symptoms, it isn’t designed to address every cause of TMJ.

Sometimes patients require higher level treatments, such as orthodontics, special dental work, or surgery to resolve a core issue and help prevent regression. That said, splint therapy is a strong first step toward relieving the TMJ pain that you are experiencing and avoiding the consequences that result from letting it go untreated.

For more information on the different splint therapies and which is right for you, contact Kanehl Dental today to make your appointment.