Two tips for treating jaw popping

Tips for Jaw Popping Treatment

The joints of your jaw are known to medical professionals as the temporomandibular joints (TMJs), and one issue that’s common with these joints is popping sounds. In some cases, these sounds could be related to issues like weak jaw muscles or grinding your teeth. There are several tips that can help treat jaw popping, and these two tips are some of the best at-home treatment options. 

  1. Eat soft foods

Anyone who has ever chewed an ice cube knows that it takes lots of jaw strength. However, you may not think about the stress placed on the TMJs when eating hard foods. In fact, the stress of repeatedly eating hard or tough foods can lead to issues like jaw popping. One tip for jaw popping treatment is to eat softer foods for a while. 

For example, you could try an all-liquid diet for a few days. This will involve you drinking smoothies, shakes, juices and other forms of liquid nutrition, and doing this can give your jaw joints a well-needed break. If you aren’t willing to go completely liquid, you can try adding softer foods — such as gelatin, pudding and applesauce — into the mix. 

  1. Wear a mouthguard at night

Grinding your teeth can also strain your TMJs and lead to popping sounds from your jaw. In some cases, people grind their teeth while eating, but many people also unknowingly grind them while sleeping, too. When you grind your teeth, your jaw muscles clamp down fairly hard, and this tends to place a lot of strain on your jaw joints. 

To help treat jaw popping caused by nighttime tooth grinding, you should consider wearing a mouthguard while you sleep. These guards are typically made of flexible plastic, and they can usually be customized to your mouth. The most common way to customize these guards is to place them in boiling water for a short time and then place them in your mouth after a short cooling period. For more specific instructions, check the packaging of the mouthguard you buy. Having this mouthguard in place will keep your teeth separated while you’re sleeping, and this can prevent grinding and jaw popping. 

Armor Physical Therapy can help you with jaw popping treatment

If at-home treatments don’t stop your jaw popping, you should seek help from our team at Armor Physical Therapy. We have lots of experience dealing with jaw issues, and we can perform a free screening to determine what issue is causing your symptoms. Our team can then create a personalized therapy plan for you, and this plan may include therapy methods like: 

Are you ready to take the next step to get our help? Contact us today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment. 

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