What are the causes of oral joint pain?

Have you ever experienced the feeling of oral ulcers, where you can’t eat and it’s very painful to swallow saliva? This is just muscle inflammation. What will happen if the oral joints are inflamed? Because there are many joints in our mouth, if the joints are inflamed, swollen and painful, it will not only affect our normal life, but also bring us greater pain. So what are the causes of oral joint inflammation? Let's talk about this issue today.

The causes of oral joint pain are probably related to the following aspects:

1. Psychosocial factors: Patients often have mental symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, mental tension, excitability and insomnia. In some patients, there is an obvious causal relationship between mental and emotional factors and the onset of the disease. In chronic and protracted patients, the influence of mental factors on the recurrence of symptoms can also be found.

2. Occlusal factors: Clinical examination of TMD patients often reveals obvious occlusal factors, including interference, premature cusp contact, severe lockbite, deep overbite, majority of posterior teeth missing, and excessive wear of the occlusal surfaces resulting in a low vertical distance.

3. Immune factors: Immunological studies have shown that the main components of articular cartilage, such as collagen polysaccharides and chondrocytes, are antigenic. Because articular cartilage is wrapped in matrix, it is isolated from the vascular system from embryo to adult, becoming a closed antigen that cannot be recognized by the body's immune system. Related experimental studies have shown that TMD also involves cellular immunity.

4. Excessive load on joints: Moderate weight-bearing is necessary and important for maintaining the normal structure, function and physiological remodeling of joints. However, excessive weight bearing beyond physiological limits can cause degenerative changes or even damage to the joints.

5. Joint anatomical factors: From a functional point of view, the temporomandibular joint and jaw have become more flexible as humans evolve to adapt to more complex jaw movements for speech and facial expressions. Because of this, from an anatomical point of view, the corresponding joints, muscles and ligaments become significantly weakened, and the load-bearing capacity of the joints decreases. This increase in the type, flexibility, and range of joint motion in humans is a potential threat to the anatomically weakened temporomandibular joint.

6. Other factors: Cold stimulation of the joint area, muscle dysfunction caused by bad posture and affecting the normal position of the mandible and condyle are also factors that induce temporomandibular joint disorder.

Patients often experience chronic pain in the unilateral or bilateral temporomandibular joints. The pain may radiate behind the ears, limit mouth opening, and cause local traction pain. There is often a crisp sound when the temporomandibular joint moves, and the pain is often aggravated by chewing hard objects, yawning, and cold. The following examination items should be conducted during medical consultation: ① Plain X-ray films (Schuhler view and lateral condylar transpharyngeal view), which may reveal changes in the joint space and bone quality, such as sclerosis, bone destruction and hyperplasia, and cystic changes. ②Arthrography and magnetic resonance imaging can reveal articular disc displacement, perforation, and changes in articular disc attachments. ③Arthroendoscopic examination can reveal early changes of the disease.