TMJ Splints - What Are They and How Do They Work?

What Is A TMJ Splint?

A TMJ splint is sometimes called a TMJ appliance or TMJ mouth guard. While these sound good in theory, well over half of the wearers of these splints, feel no pain relief. Some even feel worse!

This is because of the many different causes of TMJ. It's still sort of a mystery of what causes TMJ, and how to cure TMJ. In most cases, if you have TMJ because of a trauma to the face, these splints will do no good.

Furthermore, many TMJ sufferers have crooked bites. This was my case too. Because you have a crooked bite, your jaw doesn't open or close properly, causing weakening of the TM joint and muscle spasms and pain. Using a TMJ splint doesn't fix the cause! The cause is the crooked bite, the pain is the effect. Using a splint only holds the mouth open for long periods of time bringing some pain relief. This is like using a band-aid on a compound leg fracture.

For those folks that have arthritis in that join because of long term TMJ, then a TMJ splint will only worsen the effects and cause even more pain. What will happen over the long term is that it will become painful to close your mouth! Imagine walking around all day with your mouth half open.

While these TMJ splints provide some relief, I think they are hurting more than they are helping. After using one myself, it only provides temporary relief and doesn't fix the CAUSE of TMJ. Fix the cause of TMJ and your pain will go away for good.