Symptoms and Treatment of a Misaligned Jaw

A Perfectly Aligned Jaw

A perfectly aligned jaw is one where the teeth and the jaw work harmoniously together without stress on either the temporomandibular joint or uneven pressure on the bite, allowing you to chew, yawn, talk, breath and sleep without any clicks, pops, or discomfort.

A crooked or uneven jaw may be triggered by a multitude of reasons, often caused by simple wear-and-tear. Inevitably, as we age, the teeth start wearing down, or we may lose teeth due to injury or neglect. Any preexisting and untreated bite conditions, such as an overbite or underbite, would cause undue wear on tooth enamel and accelerate the misalignment. As the TMJ tries to cope with ongoing changes in the bite, it no longer functions as intended, resulting in lower jaw pain, headaches, and even posture problems. Mildly stated, we probably all have misaligned jaws as none of us can escape aging.

Lower Jaw Pain and Jaw Muscle Pain

Lower jaw pain is usually the result of clenching and grinding. Jaw muscle pain is a secondary part of the problem with the bite not functioning in harmony with the TMJ. Head, neck and jaw pain contribute to the overall stress on the body, and over time it can decrease the quality of life. Crooked jaw correction can be accomplished without drugs, surgery and without drilling away your teeth because:

Fixing a misaligned jaw with my JawTrac^® Jaw Position Technology is a mechanical solution for a mechanical problem: no drugs, no surgery, no drilling or grinding your teeth.

Aging Face and Misaligned Jaw

A misaligned bite is a leading reason for faces to look older, especially when the teeth wear down. The face lost support from the right jaw position which is also getting pushed towards the patient's ears. The jaw gets pushed back by the deep overbite, the face gets shorter from the tooth wear and, now the entire face looks older. This premature aging process is reversed with anti-aging Face Lift Dentistry®.

Jaw Misalignment and Sleeping Problems

One of the reasons that a patient is not sleeping well is because they have lost room for their tongues. Why? The teeth have worn down to such a degree that their jaw closes too far and the jaw is pushed back towards the patient’s ears when they close their teeth together. The teeth are too short for the structure of the jaw and the TMJ position, so the patients face gets shorter, they don’t sleep very well, they are not as energized and you cannot see their upper teeth when they talk.

Tooth Wear, , and Shorter Face

The deep overbite causes the chin to look small, and the tooth wear causes the face to be too short. The best way to solve all three problems is to replace the lost wear to the teeth, correct the deep overbite and use JawTrac® to get the jaw in the right position for your facial features to be maximized.

Jaw Misalignment Treatment Options

Smile Dentistry and Veneers are Just a Band-Aid - Smile dentistry is just a bandage because the bite is the problem and it never gets corrected. Instead, the patient gets porcelain veneers that cause the lower teeth to wear even faster, and the veneers make the bite deeper. The most important reason that veneers are just a Band-Aid is that they don’t correct the bite and they don’t improve the jawline or the shape of the patient’s face. VENLAY® restorations do it by improving the shapes and biting surfaces of your teeth to align the jaw and the TMJ.

Orthodontics - Braces are designed to straighten the teeth. Wearing orthodontic braces three times does not get the lower jaw aligned with the TMJ. How would the dentist know were to place the jaw? Dr. Muslin uses JawTrac®, and this has made his results far more predictable. He has the patient test the new jaw position so the patient can see and experience the new shape to their faces. He can see the new jaw position with JawTrac® which greatly improves the predictability of his care. On your first appointment, you will see the shape of your new face.

Replacing Lost Tooth Enamel with Porcelain Crowns - When you lose the enamel on your teeth by grinding at night, most dentists will recommend porcelain crowns as a way to replace lost tooth enamel. They will grind down your short tooth in order to make it longer. This is not a good idea anymore, but this is the only method being taught.

Neuromuscular Dentistry - The dentist uses computers and electronics to try to find the jaw location that would be optimal for the patient. This is not a cosmetic method; it is a trial and error method with multiple sittings with electrodes on the muscles with the neuromuscular dentist trying to find the ideal jaw alignment from a purely functional perspective.

When a patient has straight teeth and still has jaw problems most of the time the subsequent jaw position is not aligned with the TMJ. There is a physical conflict between the jaw position and the TMJ. The teeth are straight, but the bite is misaligned. Patients with an uneven jaw tend to clench and grind their teeth more often. The solution is to get your jaw aligned without drugs, surgery, trauma and get it aligned quickly.

The Ultimate Jaw and Bite Correction Treatment

The best way to get a misaligned jaw corrected is for the dentist to have the knowledge, rather than just guess, the position of the lower jaw. Most of the time, the dentist really does not know where the jaw should be located; he or she simply try temporary teeth, or night guards or a smile guide. As one patient said, “it was tap, tap, tap,… and then the dentist would grind on the temporary teeth hoping I would find some comfort”.

This method of treatment relies on Dr. Sam Muslin's propriety JawTrac® technology to locate the most comfortable jaw alignment. The patient will get to experience a correctly aligned jaw before bite correction and tooth restoration starts, using VENLAY® restorations. Treatment is typically completed within 2 to 3 weeks at Dr. Muslin's office in Santa Monica, California.