TMJ Disorder Treatment - Comprehensive Solutions at Elements Dental Spa

Get your smile, confidence, and health back.

When your bite, jaw muscles, and joints do not work in harmony with one another it can lead to TMD, a disorder of the temporomandibular joint. This can be caused by a traumatic injury to the jaw, or from occlusal habits, such as grinding or clenching. Any one of these problems can lead to significant pain.

Dr. Luong has been actively treating TMJ disorder for years and uses a variety of methods to treat TMJ/TMD. Dr. Luong prefers to start with the least invasive treatments first. The objective of treatment is usually to relieve the pain associated with the jaw joint disorder.

Sometimes the problem can be solved by wearing an oral device that is designed to gently and comfortably move your bite into a proper, healthy position which allows your joint to move properly.

Another option is the use of botulinum injections to relax hyperactive muscles of mastication. Sometimes it is necessary to use combination therapy.

Whatever treatment has been used, Dr. Luong has seen a significant success rate. Over 90% of our TMJ disorder patients have reported relief from the pain they’ve been experiencing.

What Are Some Symptoms of Tmj Disorder?

• Regular headaches or migraines
• Worn, chipped, or cracked teeth
• Unexplained loose teeth
• Clicking or grinding sound in your jaw joints
• Pain or pressure in your joints
• Limited movement of your jaw
• Ringing in your ears

In certain cases, full mouth rehabilitation may be the best solution to correct your bite, allowing the jaw joints to be in the correct position to resolve your TMJ pain and symptoms.

You and our restorative dentist will create a plan to reconstruct your entire smile. This multi-tooth approach is recommended because it:

• Focuses on your teeth, gums, bite, facial support, and jaw joints
• Avoids unnecessary treatments
• Saves money long term

How Full Mouth Rehabilitation Works?

Restoring smiles the right way isn’t a quick process. It requires significant attention to detail and skill. This is clear in all the steps Dr. Luong takes to make your new smile functional, beautiful, and healthy.

Consultation

We recommend booking a consultation for full mouth rehab if you’ve experienced:

• Trauma
• Breakdown of past dental work
• Years of neglect
• Or other circumstances that have caused severe issues

We’ll use this appointment time to listen to you and understand your goals and concerns. Then we’ll examine your mouth and discuss the next steps.

Diagnostics and TX Planning

Many dentists skip this step, but we don’t. We’ll systematically and meticulously redesign your smile with zero guesswork.

At this appointment, we’ll take:

• High-quality photography with special facial reference glasses
• 3D digital scans of your teeth
• X-rays

This will help Dr. Luong to determine which treatments you’ll need and how the end result should look. Potential treatments include:

• Veneers
• Crowns
• Bridges
• Extractions
• Dental implants
• And more

Preparation and Prototype

Before placing your final restorations, you’ll get to take a test drive with temporary restorations. This step is extremely important for full mouth reconstructions because we need to verify you can chew comfortably.

To begin, we’ll prepare your teeth in the most conservative way possible. This is achieved by working closely with a ceramist and only reducing the tooth as needed. Dr. Luong will craft custom prototypes in the final restorations’ shape, texture, and color.

These are placed over your prepared teeth and worn for roughly 4-6 weeks. The material of these prototypes can be modified if you’d like to change any aspect before the final restorations are made.

Once you are happy with the result, we’ll take a 3D scan of the final prototypes so the ceramist can copy this for your final restorations.

Place Your New Smile

It’s the day you’ve been waiting for!

We’ll remove the prototypes and then carefully bond your new restorations in place. We’ll balance your bite, confirm it functions well, polish your teeth, and go over instructions on caring for your new smile.

A few weeks later, you’ll come back for a follow-up exam, making any fine-tune adjustments if needed.

You’ll get to enjoy your beautiful smile for many, many years to come!

Schedule Your Consultation Today!

Just like an extreme home renovation, full mouth rehabilitation requires an expert dentist who has the tools and skills to make your new smile function, look good, and last. You can trust that our doctors are highly experienced and trained specialists.

At Elements Dental Spa – Baton Rouge Dentist & Aesthetics Spa, our doctors perform a very thorough new patient exam to evaluate you for evidence of tongue-tie, airway, or TMJ issues, and any other dental issues you may have.

Ready to start step one? Please call (225)-398-8812 to schedule a consultation today.