A TMJ disorder simply put means there is pain or tightness in the jaw joint near the ears or the muscles around the ears and under cheek bones. In ideal face and jaw development, one would breastfeed for 2-3 years, get a tongue tie addressed as a baby, and chew firm foods as a child and get nice strong chewing muscles that help guide good growth forward and wide arches. Ideally we can open our mouth with no discomfort or tightness, and it is even and smooth to open and close. Unfortunately with all the undiagnosed tongue ties and the shrinking faces and mouths the last 200 years, we now have TMJ disorders and changes to the jaws. 

There are different schools of thought on TMJ pain. When I was trained in dental we didn’t talk about it much. I went to  continuing education courses on TMJ disorders and was always told that it was stress and muscle imbalance and to put them in a night guard to prevent wearing teeth and cracking. This was all we knew. Now with the research and pioneering doctors, we know that most of TMJ disorders are due to small airways, or breathing tube behind the tongue. The smaller the airway space behind the tongue, the more someone has to lean forward or lift the chin up to get air. It is a big paradigm shift, and only progressive and those who actively seek to learn more about breathing and sleep will catch this. Same thing with the tongue ties, not many providers will tell you that your TMJ issues is likely from restricted tongue function so it is pulling on other muscles to compensate for that. We also are connected by 1 sheet of fascia over the whole body and this is why the tongue tie effects the TMJ and neck muscles, it is too tight and everything gets yanked.