Temporomandibular arthritis, commonly known as hook pain, refers to symptoms such as pain in the temporomandibular joint, unfavorable mouth opening and impaired movement due to dysfunction or structural damage of the temporomandibular joint. The pain is characterized by pain located in front of the ear of the affected joint, limited activity in opening and closing the mouth, inability to bite hard food, and can radiate from the area to the surrounding area or even diffuse to one side of the face. The pain is mild to moderate dull, sore, and swollen. When talking, chewing, biting, flossing, or even brushing teeth, the joint may ring, and the pain may be triggered and aggravated. What can cause temporomandibular arthritis? 1. Intrinsic factors: 1. Malocclusion: Due to “malocclusion” of teeth (called bad bite by dentists), it can cause temporomandibular arthritis. 2, muscle imbalance: can cause the mouth to open the jaw to the side. The correct way to open and close the mouth, or to bite and chew, is to let the lower jaw rise and fall in the direction of the midline. If the jaw is tilted to one side when opening, closing, or biting, we may perceive a rubbing sensation or twanging sound in front of the ear. This sensation is caused by excessive stretching, swelling, or synovial friction and wear of the jaw joint. Repeated wear and tear can then lead to aseptic inflammation of the joint and related symptoms. 3, degenerative joint changes: As we age, the joints will “age”, relax and become more easily damaged. In Chinese medicine, this is called liver and kidney deficiency and blood stagnation. Insufficient liver and kidneys, the tendons and bones lose their master, tendons and bones impotent; Qi stagnation and blood stasis, the meridians and channels are inaccessible and the pain is fixed. External factors: 1, open the mouth too much: such as loud talking, singing, yawning, biting large pieces of food, often open the mouth too much, easy to pull the temporomandibular joint synovial membrane, resulting in inflammation. 2, open mouth too often: professionals engaged in long hours of speech, such as teachers, trainers, clinicians, etc., they need to speak with the work object more than 4 to 8 hours a day. 3, bite and chew too hard: bite and chew hard food, it will be the joint capsule and synovial membrane is strained 4, lateral activities of the jaw: for example, when flossing, it is easy to have the mandible misaligned to one side, causing lateral strain on the temporomandibular joint, resulting in injury. This is the reason for the old Zhang mentioned at the beginning of the article. 5. Excessive force and time on the mandibular joint. For example, people who work, think, surf the Internet and do homework with their cheeks resting for a long time, due to the reaction force of the chin chin up, causing continuous impact on the temporomandibular joint, resulting in joint cartilage damage and inflammatory reaction of the joint capsule. How does temporomandibular arthritis need to be treated? 1.Internal and external use of western medicine: You can take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs internally, such as Fenbendazole and Cilpro, and apply Fotarim cream externally. 2. Internal and external use of Chinese herbal medicine: take blood-stasis-boosting, swelling and pain-relieving drugs, such as Qilisan, Longbao, etc., and apply Qingpeng ointment externally. The above medication examples are for reference only. The specific type and dosage of medication should be seen by the orthopedic or surgical department of the local hospital, and the medication should be used only after examination by the local doctor. How to take care of daily life? Daily care and medication are equally important. You should pay attention to: 1. Limit excessive joint activities and reduce the number of times you talk. 2.Be careful not to open your mouth too wide in life, such as when eating fruits or yawning. 3, not to bite and chew hard food, such as biting dried fruit. 4.Be careful to avoid lateral movement of the lower jaw when flossing and brushing 5.Do not hold the chin chin for a long time to work and think. Doing reasonable protection can accelerate the absorption and dissipation of inflammation and also reduce the possibility of recurrence of the disease.