Causes of an inflammation of the temporomandibular joint
The causes of inflammation of the temporomandibular joint are wide-ranging and can also be traced back to the general factors just mentioned. However, arthritis, especially in the temporomandibular joint, can also occur if the temporomandibular joint is incorrectly loaded, especially if it is chronically overloaded. Actually, the teeth of the upper and lower jaw only have contact for about 30 minutes within one day, which is enough time for the individual parts to recover.
If the teeth are damaged, however, it can happen that you grind and press your teeth, which leads to hyperactivity. This happens particularly often at night, triggered by stress or psychological suffering. Especially the muscles are under constant strain and can stiffen.
However, the temporomandibular joint can also become inflamed if there are defects in the teeth. These can either be natural, for example a tooth gap is present, which causes other teeth to start migrating. But often the wrong load is caused by crowns that are too high, wrong bridges, incorrectly fitting dentures or general tooth misalignment.
Traumatic damage caused by an accident or an operation can also lead to inflammation. Incorrect loads on the spine and crooked postures are also partly to blame for a non-physiological load on the joints. If there is an inflammation of the temporomandibular joint, pain in the ears can also occur due to the anatomical proximity.
The reason for this is the close anatomical proximity between the temporomandibular joint, the external auditory canal and the middle ear. Thus, on the one hand, temporomandibular joint pain can also manifest itself as ear pain, but on the other hand, middle ear inflammation can also spread to the temporomandibular joint because the bone separating the two structures is quite permeable. The symptoms often go beyond earaches.
It can lead to tinnitus, clicking noise when opening the jaw, pain in the teeth and headaches. If ear pain occurs, a doctor should be consulted to find out the exact cause. The doctor will then examine whether it is e.g.is an inflammation of the middle ear or cranio-mandibular dysfunction (CMD), i.e. a malposition of the temporomandibular joint, which causes ear pain. But it is not only malpositioning or overloading of the temporomandibular joint that can cause earaches. Toothache, caries, wisdom teeth or root inflammation in the molar region can also cause pain radiating to the ear.
