Manual therapy against crandiomandibular dysfunction

Manual therapy is prescribed by the dentist and carried out by the physiotherapist. There are special therapists with additional training who know the head and neck area in detail. A prescription is usually issued for 10 appointments of 20 minutes each.

The aim of the therapy is to relax the muscles and tissues. At the same time, relaxation exercises should be learned, which can also be used at home. The physiotherapist takes an anamnesis to find out the exact symptoms.

Only then does he know exactly which muscle groups he has to start treatment on. The chewing muscles and the muscles of the cervical spine are (almost) always affected. In some cases the disease can spread to the whole organism and cause complaints in the back or knees.

These must be improved by other (physio-)therapeutic measures. However, the focus should be on eliminating the cause. If this is not treated, manual therapy is only the treatment of one symptom.

Self Help

Since the development of craniomandibular dysfunction is often stress-related, compensatory activities and learning certain relaxation techniques can be helpful. Patients who often grind their teeth and/or bite their jaws too firmly together can find relief in placing the tongue specifically against the palate. This relaxes the chewing muscles, the lower jaw moves away from the upper jaw and pain is relieved relatively quickly.

Helpful exercises

Since CMD is a complex disease, there are special exercises that can be used for the different symptoms. It is important that these exercises should initially only be carried out under the guidance of an appropriate therapist. The correct technique has to be followed, because complaints cannot improve if the exercises are performed incorrectly.

Sometimes they only get worse. The exercises are applied several times a day (morning-afternoon-evening). At home you should regularly check yourself in front of the mirror to avoid mistakes.

After a few weeks, sometimes even after a few days, success can be seen. Relaxation exercises are especially important for nightly crunching. A walk before going to bed is helpful here or real “exhausting” through sports activities.

Massage of the chewing muscles can also help. To do this, use your index and middle finger to perform circular movements over the strained jaw muscles. There are also stretching, stabilising and strengthening exercises which help the muscles and also the joint. A more detailed description of the exercises is not given because of the points listed above.

What’s the point of a bite guard?

A bite splint against the CMD can be useful in many cases if the dentist has chosen the right type of splint. One has to distinguish here whether the CMD is caused by stress or by a false bite. If stress is the trigger, a JIG splint, i.e. a splint with a bite in the region of the front teeth, can be useful.

Here the nightly grinding can be reduced. If a false bite is the trigger, a special splint has to be made to compensate the bite properly. In most cases, a reduction of the discomfort can then be achieved if the splint is worn regularly. On average, an improvement of the symptoms, especially the pain, of about 60% is achieved.