Hi, I’m Dr. Jonathon Pinnow, your chiropractor for TMJ from Noble Choice Chiropractic in Sun Prairie, WI. And today, we’re going to give you a few ways to help with your TMJD.
So I’m gonna give you three foods specifically to avoid eating, to help out with that. And so the first one is a hard candy or nuts. Something that’s really hard, think a jaw breaker, appropriately termed for this. And so when you’re biting into something where it’s really hard to close your mouth, it’s putting extra stress on your TMJ, this joint right here.
And so there’s extra stress on the joint, almost like it’s not opening, closing how supposed to. It’s not gonna allow your body to heal. It’s not gonna promote healing. And so anything that’s very hard, you want to avoid that food.
Eating with TMJ | Sun Prairie, WI Chiropractic
The second one is gum. So there’s a couple different ways that TMJD presents, and your provider will help you with this. But if your muscles in your mouth just feels really tired, like it’s hard to open and close it, using something like gum, where then you’re repetitively chewing over and over and over again, it’s something that’s gonna irritate those muscles of mastication even further. Promoting some of the symptoms you’re experiencing with TMJD.
So gum is one that you want to avoid as well.
And then the third one is a blend of those two. And so that’s any gamey meat, or even red meat, where you have to bite hard to rip that meat apart, but then you’ve got to chew repetitively to chew that meat, to digest it. And so it’s a blend of a hard candy and a chewing gum together.
TMJ Symptoms | Sun Prairie, WI Chiropractic
And so if you have the muscles that are stabilizing this TMJ, they’re not functioning properly with TMJD. And when you go to eat something like game meat or red meat, you’re gonna put more stress on those muscles.
They may be hypertonic. They may be really tight right now. They’re not functioning like they should be. And then when you add that food group in, it’s only gonna make it worse. Those TMJ symptoms aren’t gonna get any better. So if you can give it some rest, avoid those three foods, that’ll help in the healing of your TMJD.
