Parafunctions represent the most important factor in the muscular causes of CMD.
Parafunctions include tongue clenching, teeth clenching, and teeth grinding.
In this case, there is a strong overload in the area of teeth, temporomandibular joints and musculature, i.e. the entire craniomandibular system.Most often, parafunctions have psychological causes, such as stress, anger or anxiety. To eliminate parafunctions, a psychologist should always be consulted, because bite splints prevent parafunctions as long as they are worn, but do not eliminate the cause.
The consequences of years of functional disorders can be changes in the musculature and in the temporomandibular joint, such as inflammation, hardening or shortening of the musculature.
This leads to pain and, if the parafunctions are left untreated, can also lead to dysfunction of the temporomandibular joints.