TMJ

TMJ is one of the problems that are most suitable for acupuncture and moxibustion. It could be caused by toothache, tension, stress or injury resulted in inflammation at the joint. The muscles surrounding the Junction become exceedingly tight. The protocol for neck and shoulder (N-K protocol)is the first step for treatment, followed by Moxibustion and electro acupuncture at the St 6 and SJ 17. At times, the temporal area may be very tender and Tai Yang (extra point) has to be needled obliquely.

This procedure helped a 38-year old lady with pain resulting from dental work on her molars two days earlier. The day after her dental procedure, opening the mouth caused excruciating pain. She was not able to open her mouth more than 2 cm wide. She phoned the dentist and was referred to an oral surgeon. Instead, she came to my office, two acupuncture visits later and the problem was completely resolved.  The dentist was very happy to pay her acupuncture bill. Turns out, such incidents from dental work happen common enough, apparently many dentists are not very tending to their patients suffering.

Such incidents are acute problems. A few acupuncture treatments are all is needed. For chronic sufferer of TMJ, more acupuncture visits will definitely be required. Many people would have an emotional component as well.

Trigeminal neuralgia

This is a type of facial pain that appears along one or more of the three branches of trigeminal nerve.  As with other nerve pain, moxibustion is the best way to speed the recovery. One of the hallmarks of this pain is that there can be a spot too painful to be touched. Needling should be paced around this location. This is a special technique called Yang (meaning: rising) needling.  

Grinding teeth

This is a frequent patient complaint, often told by their dentists or hygienist.  The standard practice is to wear mouth guard to” prevent” excessive teeth wearing. Most people have no idea what it is about. Some people however do have issue with tight jaw.

A 50-year old executive had a complaint of grinding of the teeth. Although he was not overtly complaint about the neck and shoulder region, palpation revealed that these areas were very tense. As a result, excessive tension was created in the temporal and masseter muscles near the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Therefore, the 1^st thing to do is to treat the neck and shoulder following the N-S protocol and then add SJ17 and St 6. Adding electro acupuncture and moxibustion enhances result. Many people who have this issue tend to be under lots of mental stress and therefore it is important to address this issue as well. Different people carry the stress on different part of their bodies.

Toothache and other dental problems

Toothache is one reason people pay visit to dentists. This is especially true in the old days before the cosmetic dentistry exists. However, it should be clear that most toothache is not related to dental work. I do think acupuncturist can do better job of relieving patients toothache if the acupuncturist knows how to treat such problem. At the least, it is minimum invasive. No harm is done to the tooth.

The key is the knowledge.  Most of the time, the tooth pain is related to Qi congestion at the junctions between the upper and lower jaw. It is not the individual tooth that is causing the pain even it appears so. “When Qi is congested, it will be painful”, as is frequently repeated in Traditional Chinese medicine.

Examine the cheek with fingers.  First, opening mouth wide, press at the spots a few fingers width in front of the ear lobes. You can feel spots open between bones.  When these two spots become tender to pressure, you are in trouble.

Massage with thumbs on and around the tender spots will help the tension.  Warm up the spots are very beneficial.  Another way of reducing the pain is to stick index fingers inside the mouth and massage the junction between the upper and lower jaw. It should feel sore and nice. Close the mouth or bite down the teeth while the finger is still in for a few times(watch out for finger.). As you do these things, you would notice that the tooth pain decreases. 

The interesting thing is that it may appear that the pain originates from certain individual tooth, but to release the pain, you should focus on the jaw junctions, not the individual tooth.  For acupuncture treatment, because these areas are where Stomach meridian populate, needling the foot Stomach meridian would be very beneficial, such as St 41, St 44 in addition to St 7 on the cheek.

This procedure does not work very well if the pain is caused by ulceration of the lining or infection of the gum. Gum infection needs to treated, preferably with antibiotics locally. Pus from infection, if any, should be drained to speed up recovery.