Patient query: “Recently, when I open my mouth, I can hear a staccato sound, what is this?” Many people feel a rattling sound or even pain in the TMJ when they yawn, open their mouth too wide when singing, or eat too hard food, which is actually caused by TMJ disorder. The disease is self-healing and can be ignored when the symptoms are mild. Once you feel that the symptoms are aggravated, please seek medical attention immediately, otherwise the condition will worsen and may lead to inability to open the mouth or even TMJ dislocation in the most serious cases. Complications are the most difficult to tolerate Many readers are not familiar with the term “temporomandibular disorder syndrome” (hereafter referred to as “TMJ disorder”), but its symptoms are very common. Temporomandibular disorder is usually characterized by three types of symptoms: first, pain in the temporomandibular joint, which increases when opening the mouth or biting, and even more when biting on hard objects. Second, there is a ringing sound in the TMJ, which can be heard by itself when the mouth is opened. Third, there is a movement disorder, i.e., the inability to bite or open the mouth. In addition to this, patients may also experience some complication symptoms, such as dizziness, insomnia, mental absence, irritability and other emotional problems. Due to the lack of awareness of this disease, most of the patients who come to the doctor for this disease are not due to TMJ problems per se, but mostly due to its complications. Does the lack of awareness affect the effectiveness of treatment if the patient is unable to seek medical treatment in time? Zhuang Lixing explained that TMJ disorder has a certain tendency to heal on its own. If the symptoms are mild (occasional ringing and no pain), most of the disorder will heal on its own if we pay attention to the protection of TMJ in our life. However, if the pain is obvious, with frequent ringing and even a tendency to get progressively worse, then it is recommended to seek medical attention. Delayed treatment is likely to progress to inability to open the mouth and, in the most severe cases, to TMJ dislocation (i.e., the jaw falling off). Once dislocation occurs, habitual dislocation is likely to occur, affecting the quality of life in the future. Prevention of TMJ disorder in three aspects Although TMJ disorder can be basically confirmed when there is a ringing sound in the TMJ, its cause is yet to be proven. In particular, TMJ disorders caused by inflammation (such as otitis media induced, etc.), local swelling, metastasis of nasal cancer or radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal cancer should be treated promptly for the source of the disorder, otherwise not only the TMJ problem cannot be solved, but also the original condition may be aggravated. In addition to this, the cause of TMJ disorder is firstly considered trauma, such as falling, bumping, bruising, biting hard food and bones, etc., which may also cause damage to TMJ. Therefore, it is important to avoid trauma from the perspective of prevention and post-healing care in normal life. Experts remind that mental and emotional problems and TMJ disorder affect each other, and low mood and negativity are both the cause and symptom, and they aggravate each other with TMJ disorder. In addition, living habits are also one of the triggers. Many news media have reported incidents where yawning or laughing led to dislocation of the jaw, and most readers laughed it off after reading it, but in fact, the elderly should pay extra attention to not to move too much in yawning, avoid laughing too much, laughing more than once, and singing with too big a mouth, or else TMJ disorder may really occur. In addition, Zhuang Lixing especially reminds that wearing a mask to protect the temporomandibular joint from wind and cold can also effectively prevent TMD. Acupuncture and moxibustion “Shao Yang Meridian” effective treatment Generally, there are conventional treatments for TMJ disorder, such as anti-inflammatory and pain relief and hormone treatment, but I recommend acupuncture, the characteristic treatment of Chinese medicine. Acupuncture points around the TMJ on the painful side are usually selected from the Shaoyang meridian, such as the hearing acupuncture point, the hearing acupuncture point and the Fengchi acupuncture point, and acupuncture with electric needles or fire needles is used. If you are afraid of pain, you can also implement acupuncture point stickers or moxibustion with ginger if you are afraid of pain, all of the above treatments need to be used with the help of a professional doctor. In addition, if the symptoms are mild, moxibustion can also be done at home to smoke the joints around the ears, and patients who can accurately find the acupuncture points can also choose Shaoyang meridian points for moxibustion.