Many patients are not aware that there are alternate treatments to jaw surgery and years of orthodontic treatment. There are several ways to conservatively correct overbites, underbites, and TMJ pain with much less risk than surgery.
When treating TMJ and bite misalignment, Dr. Konig points out, “It is important to note that braces really just move teeth and are not always intended to reposition the jaw. Bite management or jaw realignment is essential to correcting jaw pain, facial pain, and facial asymmetries. Simply placing an arbitrary removable splint does not work for so many patients and they are unable to eat or speak with a bulky appliance.”
Dr. Konig further explains, that bite correction protocols in his office often involve two phases:
1|) Repositioning the jaw to the correct physiologic position and test driving the bite before any
long term treatment begins
2) Long term stabilization: this can involve building up the teeth to the corrected jaw position which can often be done with very little or no grinding on the teeth.
The beauty of these bite management treatment is that Dr. Konig is able to test drive this bite to ascertain patient comfort, proper facial esthetics, and proper patient function. In fact computerized bite analysis and muscle function are used to verify this bite as opposed to laying the patient down and taking an arbitrary bite.
This also allows for any healing of the damaged TMJ joints and to make sure the patient is comfortable with eating, chewing, and their profile too. Another important factor, is working with the patients to help with other TMJ associated pain such as headaches, ear pain, neck pain, and often airway issues.
If you have questions regarding Houston TMJ Treatment, Houston Non-surgical Bite Correction, or Non-surgical facelift, please feel free to contact our office, Ronald W. Konig DDS, FAGD, LVIF, 713-668-2289
