The muscles that control your jaw works in harmony, allowing you to open and close your mouth both smoothly and silently. If you notice a constant clicking, popping, and snapping sound while performing everyday activities, then there is an issue. These popping sounds are indicators that your jaw joint is unstable. It is like a war between your muscle and tooth, where your jaw wants to sit in another spot for balance and comfort when your teeth bite is in one spot. A healthy and normal TMJ is quiet and does not generate any noise when it is working. There is no pain or mobility issue with a healthy TMJ.

Some common symptoms of TMJ and TMD pain are:

• Experiencing pain when biting down
• Restricted with how much you can open and close your mouth
• Popping sounds in TMJ when you open your mouth wide

There are some professional medical treatments that can be adopted to fix this issue:

• Mouthpieces: A splint or nightguard may be used to prevent or manage clenching or grinding of the teeth.
• Dental work: Overbites, underbites and other dental issues may be addressed through dental work to reduce jaw popping.
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): using electrical currents, TENS relaxes the muscles of the jaw and face to relieve pain.