If you think that TMJ dysfunction may be the cause of your problem(s), there are several tests you can do or questions you can ask yourself. Please take a few minutes to take this test. It just might prove to be the best time you’ve ever spent!

1. Do you have a grating, clicking, cracking, or popping sound in either or both jaw joints when you chew?
2. Do you have sensations of stuffiness, pressure or blockage in your ears? Is there excessive earwax production?
3. Do you ever have a ringing, roaring, hissing, or buzzing sound in your ears?
4. Do you ever feel dizzy or faint?
5. Is your jaw painful or locked when you get up in the morning?
6. Are you ever nauseous for no apparent reason?
7. Do you fatigue easily or consider yourself chronically fatigued?
8. Are there imprints of your teeth on the sides of your tongue?
9. Is it impossible to swallow quickly five times in a row with the last swallow being as easy as the first swallow?
10. Does your tongue go between your front teeth when you swallow?
11. Do your fingers sometimes go numb?
12. Do you have any pain or soreness in any of the following areas: jaw joints, upper jaw or teeth, lower jaw or teeth, side of neck, back of head, forehead, behind eyes, temples, tongue or chewing muscles?
13. Is it hard to move your jaw from side to side or forward and backward?
14. Do you have difficulty in chewing your food?
15. Do you gulp your food, swallowing it whole or almost whole?
16. Do you have any missing back teeth?
17. Have you had extensive dental crowns and bridgework?
18. Do you clench your teeth during the day?
19. Do you grind your teeth at night? (Ask a significant other.)
20. Do you ever awaken with a headache?
21. Have you ever had a whiplash injury?
22. Have you ever worn a cervical collar or had neck traction?
23. Have you ever experienced a blow to the chin, face, or head?
24. Have you reached the point where drugs no longer relieve your symptoms?
25. Does chewing gum start your symptoms?
26. Is it painful, or is there soreness, when you press on your jaw joints or on the cheek just below them?
27. Is it painful to stick your “pinky” fingers into your ears with your mouth wide open and then close your mouth while pressing forward with your “pinky” fingers?
28. Does your jaw deviate to the left or right when you open wide? (Look in the mirror.)
29. Are you unable to insert your first three fingers vertically into your mouth when it is opened wide?

If you have answered “yes” to a substantial number of the following questions, you may very well be one of the many millions of people suffering from TMJ dysfunction. Therefore, it may be beneficial for you to have a thorough dental examination!

If your dentist is unfamiliar with TMJ dysfunction or claims to know all about it but assures you that it is not your problem, it might behoove you to get another opinion. If your dentist or physician tells you that you don’t have a TMJ dysfunction, it may be because he or she is simply unaware of the many advances in TMJ diagnosis that have occurred in recent years.