TMJ?

Hello,
Mom has all the symtoms (symptoms) of TMJ, jaw pain on one side, pain with chewing, clicking sound, an x-ray showed a misalignment of the joint with the mouth open but not closed. She is seeing a specialist next week.  My question is Would an x-ray show up more serious problems such as a tumor? Can TMJ also cause pain in tongue (nerve entrapment?). What can we expect in terms of treatment options?
thanks so much for this forum!

[Jerome Bogin, D.D.S.]

These are very good questions.I think that the x-rays would have shown something more serious.I have never heard of referred pain into the tongue from TMJ dysfunction.I would hope that the treatment modalities would be conservative. I do not know how old your mother is nor the amount of discomfort she is having. I send my patients to a TMJ specialist and all these years and patients I have only seen mouth appliances,muscle retraining,steriod injections etc.