Help For TMJ

Good morning!

This post comes from a nice experience we had with our newest laser, the Biolase Epic, with one of our very own employees. Last Wednesday one of  my assistants, Katlyn, came to me and had a complaint about a TMJ issue. She said the muscle felt painful and she could barely open her mouth wide enough to eat, even feeling discomfort up into her ear. This was troubling to me, but I explained that moist heat along with some anti-inflammatory would help alleviate that discomfort. I also suggested to her that she try our new laser on the area for a few days and see how that would help. By the next day, her pain was virtually gone.

So how does this laser work?
The Biolase Epic puts out pulses of diode laser energy into the tissue followed by "down time" to allow the tissue to respond favorably. This laser provides temporary relief of minor pain. In this case, it helped relax that tense muscle that were causing her to feel pain and allowed her to eat and chew normally without any further discomfort. Again, this is a temporary relief of minor pain so along with further laser treatment, I recommend stretching and relaxation exercises so that in the future, it won't be as much of a problem.

We love to see positive results with treatments that we do, and we always appreciate any and all feedback on our laser procedures as well. We were very pleased to see such an immediate good result on this laser treatment, and will be using it more in the future for our TMJ patients. For more information about the lasers we use in our office, please visit our new website under "Laser Dentistry".

I hope you are all doing well,
Richard Stickney DDS PS