Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ)
TMJ are located on both sides of the face in front of the ears, connecting the jawbone to the skull. They’re the most complicated joints in the human body which allows us to open our mouths wide and move our jaws from left to right. The area surrounding and including the TMJ is made up of large powerful muscles, the largest cranial nerve called the Trigeminal nerve, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels and has multitude of sensory distribution and interconnections which are controlled by the body’s local and central nervous system.
Over 80% of the electrical messages from the brain to the muscles and back to the brain are affected by the TMJ. Even a fractional imbalance of the jaw muscles may cause confused electrical messages to the other muscles.