Best and Worst Foods for TMJ Disorder



 best and worst foods for TMJ Have you ever had TMJ pain after eating something hard like a piece of bread, corn, or snacking on meat? Although stress is a common trigger for TMJ pain, the food you eat can also cause pain. For someone with temporomandibular joint disorder, eating can literally be a real pain. Because of the discomfort that eating can cause, it is important that those suffering from TMJ pain take extra care to ensure they are getting the nutrition they need.

What is TMJ?

TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint disorder, which is a condition that affects the joint connecting the jawbone to the skull. It can cause pain and discomfort in the jaw, face, and neck.

TMJ can be caused by a variety of factors, including injury, arthritis, teeth grinding, stress, and genetics. Symptoms may include pain or tenderness in the jaw, difficulty opening or closing the mouth, clicking or popping sounds when moving the jaw, and headaches or earaches.

What are the worst foods for TMJ?

Avoid eating foods that cause discomfort or pain in the jaw joint as these foods aggravate TMJ symptoms. The following can be a good guide:

What are the good foods for TMJ?

There are various factors that make TMJ disorder worse. While self-care at home is always recommended to help you find relief, it is best to have a professional examination by your doctor to know what works for you. When it comes to foods, it is better to opt for softer foods to put less pressure on your TMJ when chewing.

Nutritious smoothies and pureed soups will help you with TMJ relief. The best foods for TMJ are those that don’t require a lot of chewing. Fruits such as bananas, apple sauce, and canned fruit in 100 percent juice are good choices.

Therefore, you should avoid crunchy and hard foods such as popcorn, chips, peanut brittle, hard nuts, pizza, raw vegetables, hard meats, large pieces of fruit and vegetables, or chewing gum. These foods require a lot of chewing and put pressure on the jaw.

Chewy foods

Like crunchy food, chewy food can also aggravate your TMJ symptoms. With chewing food, your jaw has to work overtime in constant motion. It can make your TMJ pain worse. To prevent such pain and worsening symptoms, you should avoid chewy foods such as candy, chocolate with dried fruit pieces, cereal grains, barbecue, and beef.

Sticky foods

Foods that stick to the teeth such as sweet treats, chocolate, pretzels, cookies, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, caramel, popcorn, and nuts are also not TMJ-friendly. In addition to sticking to the teeth, these foods require a lot of jaw movements.

Inflammatory foods

Inflammatory foods such as processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, and some vegetables such as peppers and eggplants, which are allergens, can cause inflammation in the body and create problems when your TMJ is aching.

 

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