Life

Ask the Dentist: Do you have trouble eating, singing, kissing or just saying aww?

Lucy Stock, dentist at Gentle Dental Care in Belfast, says it isn't always easy to open up

Surgery isn’t predictable for jaw joints so dentists use bite splints that help remedy misaligned jaws
Surgery isn’t predictable for jaw joints so dentists use bite splints that help remedy misaligned jaws Surgery isn’t predictable for jaw joints so dentists use bite splints that help remedy misaligned jaws

“OPEN wide.” Every time I say it, I feel like the stereotypical dentist. But not everyone can open wide – some people just can’t do it.

Being able to open wide helps us not only at the dentist but do other things like eating comfortably, singing, yawning and kissing. When our jaw joints are working effectively we can do all these with ease but if there’s trouble at mill then our path to comfortable jaw movement is blocked.

Let's take a look inside the jaw joint. Imagine the jawbone in the joint to be a similar shape to an oblong door knob. Over the knob is a soft collagen disc sort of like a soft scallop. The scallopy shaped disc is tethered to the skull by ligaments and muscles much like how a tent is held down with guy ropes.

In health, jaw discs glide backwards and forwards over the bone permitting natural movements. But sometimes the disc can get trapped in front or off the side of the knob of bone preventing your mouth from opening wide. This can happen if you get a blow to the side of your face or if your teeth are misshapen and don’t fit together properly.

The pop from a person's jaw is actually the disc clicking back on to the bone. Sometimes the disc can’t pop back on and is permanently stuck. In this scenario limited opening often goes hand in hand with joint pain or tinnitus buzzing as the nerves in the joint space are crushed.

The name of the game is to get the disc to seat on to the bone again so that normal function can be restored. In dentistry this is easier said than done since we can’t get inside the joint to pull it into place – surgery isn’t predictable for jaw joints.

So we use different bite splints that help romance the disc back into position. Improving the shape of worn or misaligned teeth can also allow space for the disc to seat which allows the jaw to regain all its natural movements, spring open alleviating jaw joint pain and tinnitus.