TMJ Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment Options in Wichita

Understanding your jaw joints and where myofunctional therapy fits

Your temporomandibular joints (TMJ) connect your lower jaw to your skull and move every time you talk, chew, swallow, or yawn. When the joints or the muscles around them are overloaded, the result is TMJ disorder: jaw pain, clicking or popping, stiffness, or a jaw that catches or locks.

Effective TMJ treatment usually combines more than one approach. Your dentist or physician diagnoses the problem and may recommend a bite splint, medication, or other care. Myofunctional therapy adds something those options do not: it retrains the tongue, lip, and breathing habits that keep loading the joint. Our guide to TMJ treatment options in Wichita compares the choices in more detail.

Struggling With Jaw Pain, Clicking, or TMJ Headaches?

TMJ disorder looks different from person to person. You might notice:

  • Jaw pain or tenderness, especially when chewing or waking up
  • Clicking, popping, or grinding sounds when you open your mouth
  • A jaw that locks, catches, or will not open fully
  • Headaches, earaches, or pressure around the temples
  • Neck and shoulder tension, or clenching and grinding at night

If you have been searching for jaw pain relief in Wichita, it helps to know that symptoms rarely stay in the joint. The jaw works with the neck, ears, and airway, so TMJ treatment that lasts has to look at the whole pattern, not just the joint.

How Myofunctional Therapy Supports TMJ Treatment

Treating the root cause of jaw strain, not just the symptoms

Myofunctional therapy is a program of guided exercises that retrains the muscles of the tongue, lips, face, and throat. Myofunctional therapy for TMJ disorder focuses on those muscles because they shape how your jaw rests, moves, and carries load all day long.

When the tongue rests low, the lips do not seal, or breathing happens through the mouth, the jaw muscles often compensate by working overtime. Therapy aims to restore a low-effort resting posture: tongue on the palate, lips together, breathing through the nose, and swallowing and chewing without extra jaw tension. The program is built on neuroplasticity, so your brain relearns these patterns through repetition, which is why practice at home between visits is part of every TMJ treatment plan.

Our Approach to TMJ Treatment in Wichita

A root-cause program built around your jaw, tongue, and breathing
assignment

Assess How Your Jaw Functions

We evaluate how you open, chew, and swallow, where your tongue rests, and how you breathe, to find the habits straining your TMJ.
self_improvement

Retrain With a Personalized Plan

You receive custom jaw, tongue, and functional breathing exercises, reviewed at monthly visits and practiced briefly each day at home.
group

Coordinate With Your Care Team

We work alongside your dentist or physician and will refer you for imaging, splints, or medical care when your symptoms call for it.

Why Choose Myofunctional Therapy of Kansas for TMJ Care

Certified Specialist in Orofacial Myology (CSOM). Dalanna Hanson, BS, RDH, CSOM, CERT-BBM, has practiced myofunctional therapy since 2014 and has advanced post-graduate training in TMJ disorders.

Functional breathing re-education. Dalanna is certified in Buteyko breathing re-education, so your plan addresses how you breathe as well as how you move your jaw.

A dental background. As a registered dental hygienist and the therapist who introduced Myobrace appliances to Wichita, Dalanna understands how teeth, jaws, and airway work together.

Myofunctional Therapy

Myofunctional therapy has been shown to improve symptoms of an under developed airway such as snoring, teeth grinding, lack of focus and more. Addressing proper oral function of a developing child can guide facial development in the most optimal way leading to wider jaws, straighter teeth and better breathing.

Dalanna Hanson

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TMJ Treatment FAQs

Quick answers about TMJ disorder and myofunctional therapy in Wichita, KS

It depends on what is driving your symptoms, so there is no single best option. Splints, medication, and procedures come from a dentist or physician, while myofunctional therapy retrains the muscle and breathing habits behind many cases. Most people do best with a combination.
For many people, yes, especially when tongue posture, mouth breathing, clenching, or chewing habits contribute. Results vary, and we will refer you to a dentist or physician if your symptoms point to another cause.
Eat soft foods, skip gum and wide yawning, and use moist heat or a cold pack for short periods. TMJ exercises work best when a therapist guides them, because the wrong exercises can aggravate a sore joint.
Our programs typically run about a year with monthly visits and short daily exercises, because lasting change in muscle habits takes repetition. Your timeline depends on your symptoms and how consistently you practice.
Yes. Our Wichita office serves Derby, Goddard, Andover, Maize, Bel Aire, and the surrounding Sedgwick and Butler County area. Virtual sessions are available for patients elsewhere in the US.

Myofunctional Therapy of Kansas

111 S Whittier St, Suite 135
Wichita, KS
67207-1045

(316)689-4229

Tonguetamer@yahoo.com

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Ready for TMJ Relief in Wichita?

Schedule your consultation with Dalanna Hanson, RDH, CSOM
Take the first step toward a more comfortable jaw. Book your TMJ consultation online today.
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