All rights reserved. It moves backward and forward, opens and closes like a hinge, and is subject to enormous pressure during chewing. TMJ disease can also be a manifestation of arthritic inflammation. For someone with TMJ disease, chewing food causes pain, which can radiate outward and affect nearby tissues, resulting in toothache, headache, muscle tightness in the face, clicking or popping noises, and neck and shoulder pain.
Conventional treatments can include bite plates, orthodontics, and prescription muscle relaxants.
If free radicals do contribute to TMJ disease, then antioxidants may provide a therapeutic option. Milam believes that the mechanical stress of the TMJ generates free radicals through a number of mechanisms, triggering a cascade of biochemical reactions. The end result amplifies the tissue damage and pain associated with TMJ disease. Physical and mechanical stresses, such as shearing, can generate free radicals. This, wrote Milam, has been demonstrated in blood cells and fingernails exposed to shearing stresses.