Ear bone pain when eating? Beware of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

When we eat, we feel pain in our ear bones. In this case, patients need to pay special attention, because this may be a signal from temporomandibular joint disease to the body.

The temporomandibular joint is located in the preauricular area on both sides of the human face. It has a very important influence and role on people's bodies. Therefore, when related symptoms are found, medical treatment should be sought in time to recover health as soon as possible.

1. Ear bone pain when eating

Many people have encountered this situation in life: after yawning, the open mouth seems to be stuck, and it takes a "click" sound before it can close its mouth. Some people feel pain on both sides of their ears when they open their mouths or eat. This is actually a temporomandibular joint disorder. Temporomandibular joint disorder has a high incidence among temporomandibular joint diseases, but people's awareness of this disease is very low. Many patients who come to see the doctor are hearing about this for the first time, and there are relatively few specialists in this field. They often fail to get a timely and correct diagnosis, which delays treatment. Many people seek medical treatment only when the pain becomes unbearable.

2. Beware of temporomandibular joint disease

The temporomandibular joint is located in front of the ears on both sides of the face. Like the shoulder joint and elbow joint, it is one of the many joints in the human body. Therefore, diseases of all other joints can also occur in the temporomandibular joint, such as common joint dislocations, joint dysfunctions, joint infections, and specific inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosis, tumors, and tumor-like diseases. Among the above diseases, temporomandibular joint disorder accounts for 90%. The temporomandibular joint is the only bilaterally linked joint in the body, that is, it has one mandible and two temporomandibular joints. If one side is diseased, the other side will also be affected. This is why a considerable proportion of patients clinically suffer from bilateral disease. The temporomandibular joint produces various important activities related to chewing, swallowing, language and expression under the action of muscles. Once it is diseased and not treated in time, it will not only affect normal language expression and diet, but also may turn into malignant like synovial tumor in the temporomandibular joint. In addition, malignant tumors such as osteosarcoma that originate in the joints have early symptoms similar to temporomandibular joint disorder. If not taken seriously, they can eventually lead to severe facial deformity or even life-threatening conditions. Therefore, although the joints are small, they can also suffer from serious diseases and their hazards cannot be ignored.

3. Comments and Suggestions

The most common temporomandibular joint disorders are often related to mental stress, bruxism, clenching teeth, biting hard and sticky objects, wide mouth opening, cold stimulation, joint trauma, malocclusion, unilateral chewing, excessive tooth wear and other factors. Its main clinical manifestations include pain around the joints in the preauricular area, pain on both sides of the face that worsens when opening the mouth, chewing or clenching the teeth; unpleasant "clicking", "cracking" and "broken glass" and "bone friction" sounds in the preauricular area when opening or closing the mouth; movement disorders such as inability to open the mouth wide, inability to close the mouth or inability to open the mouth at all. As a specialist in temporomandibular joint disease, Jiao Guoliang reminds everyone that if the above symptoms occur, they must pay great attention to them and go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment in time. The current method of joint cavity lavage combined with occlusal splint treatment has greatly improved the cure rate of temporomandibular joint disease and saved many patients from surgery. In addition, we should strengthen prevention in daily life, eat less hard and sticky food, avoid cold in the temporomandibular joint area, and maintain a happy mood.