How is TMJ popping treated?

  Typical patients with open mouth rattling, often through the MRI examination can be clear that the joint disc reversible displacement, (rattling also has other causes, not necessarily reversible displacement), such a rattling in fact, many people around us have, because basically does not affect eating and talking, many people let it accompany their lives. However, many people suddenly have joint popping, or think that it affects their lives, then you can go to the hospital to seek help, but most dentists believe that in the popping stage is not necessary to treat, perhaps the treatment means of various oral departments are relatively limited and indeed does not affect the patient’s function, so patients are generally recommended to adapt to the popping.  The popping of the joint is a change in the spatial position of the articular disc and the condyle of the mandible and the articular disc during the opening and closing of the mouth: it is displaced from the articular disc during the closing of the mouth and is reset immediately during the opening of the mouth. I think that when the patient has a need for treatment and we in the rehabilitation department have the technical means to deal with the problems of many patients with popping, then treatment is possible. However, the longer the popping, the more uncertain the outcome. I have personally dealt with patients who had bilateral popping for 10 years, and one side stopped popping, but the other side was stubborn and still popped. Because popping is a spatial position relationship related to the movement of opening and closing the mouth, we need the patient to fully understand the principles involved, and then educate the patient to correct many incorrect postures and habits, use jaw pads to cooperate, and skillfully control their joint movements, with the ideal final result of eliminating the popping.  We generally set the treatment period at two weeks, and if at two weeks the patient’s popping is still stubborn, or if the patient has difficulty with motor control, then we will discontinue treatment. Many patients are able to eliminate the ringing, and many are not, but because they understand the cause of the ringing and have changed their bad habits and posture to the greatest extent possible, they are no longer upset by fear, and more importantly, they are able to prevent the joint disease from progressing to the stage of “irreversible displacement” with restricted opening.