TMJ Therapy & Sleep Center of Colorado

Do you experience regular, recurring jaw pain? Do you have headaches on a regular basis? Have your doctor and the specialists they refer you to been unable to help? If so, then you might have temporomandibular joint disorders (called TMJ or TMD) . This condition (or, rather, multiple conditions with related causes and similar effects) can cause many different symptoms throughout your head and neck. Sometimes the symptoms are felt as far away as your fingers, which can be numb or tingly.

These conditions are notoriously hard for doctors to diagnose and treat. But they can be treated. And when they’re treated, all the symptoms will diminish, or, in some cases, disappear. A dentist with dedicated training and extensive experience in treating TMJ can dramatically improve your odds of getting relief. Not only that, but treatment is often noninvasive and drug-free.

If you live in Colorado and are looking for relief from your TMJ, we can help. Denver TMJ dentist Dr. Kevin Berry has 20 years experience helping people in the metro area get relief from pain.

When it comes to treating obstructive sleep apnea, the treatment will depend on the underlying cause of the sleep apnea. Dr. Berry will first determine what is causing your airway to narrow while you are sleeping. Sometimes obstructive sleep apnea is caused by something as small as the way you sleep or a health condition you are dealing with such as a respiratory infection. Sometimes something as simple as a behavioral change may be all that is necessary.

If, after reviewing your sleep study results, Dr. Berry feels that your obstructive sleep apnea can be effectively treated with an oral sleep apnea appliance, he will then work with you to identify just how much an oral appliance must reposition your jaw to pull the tongue and jaw forward so that while you are sleeping at night, your throat and airway is free of any sort of blockage that may cause you to stop breathing. We custom-fit your oral appliance with iTero digital scans. No need to bite into a tray of goop to get a custom appliance.

In some cases factors such as genetics and obesity may be the cause of, or at least a contributing factor in your obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Berry will discuss treatment options with you to ensure that your sleep apnea is properly taken care of. An alternative method of treatment for those with obstructive sleep apnea may be weight-loss with the help of special diets or weight-loss surgery.

Causes of Snoring
When it comes to snoring there isn’t just one specific cause. It happens when the tissues located in the throat and in the soft palate vibrate. This vibration is caused by a narrowed airway, when air is not able to flow freely in and out as a person breathes during sleep. There are various tissues that may be the culprit of it. These may include any number of the following:

Soft palate
Uvula
Tongue
Excess fatty tissue in the throat
Tonsils and/or adenoids

It may be helpful to read more about sleep apnea, what it is, and how it affects you if you are a chronic snorer.

The term “Movement disorders” describes a wide array of neurological disorders that plague children and adults throughout the country. These disorders cause sufferers to have difficulty walking, talking, and performing all sorts of tasks that others take for granted. They can also cause tremors, facial tics and terrible stutters, while causing some to lose the use of extremities altogether.

Dr. Berry can treat the symptoms of a variety of movement disorders, including:

Parkinson’s Disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Torticollis
Tourette’s Syndrome

Our treatment of movement disorder symptoms s involves oral appliances that are fitted to your upper and/or lower teeth. These oral appliances reposition the jaw to alleviate pressure on nerves and blood vessels that connect to the brain and reduce or eliminate symptoms in many patients.

During your first visit to our Denver office, Dr. Berry assesses your bite and determines the best way to reposition it. An impression of your teeth is then taken and sent out to our lab to begin construction on your new appliance.

Follow-up appointments are required to fine-tune the positioning by adjusting your appliance to maximize the relief of your symptoms.

You may find that your ability to walk with a stable gate returns, or your facial tics subside. Some patients have reported signs of improvement within seconds of wearing their new appliance, allowing them to feel better instantly.

Athletes of all types should definitely consider a performance-enhancing, neuromuscular mouthguard such as the PPM (Pure Power Mouthguard) in Denver. These mouth pieces are crafted in a way that, just as with traditional mouthguards, the impact of force is distributed and directed to help minimize injuries, but neuromuscular mouthguards go further. Neuromuscular ones such as Pure Power Mouthguards in Denver not only protect the teeth but can enhance and improve any athlete’s game. The use of a PPM can contribute to improvement in any or all of the following:

Improved airflow
Increased amount of overall strength
Better balance
More flexibility
Better agility
Other benefits!

Neuromuscular Mouthguards Go Beyond Contact Sports
In addition to being great for athletes who play contact sports like football and hockey, neuromuscular mouthguards help athletes in any type of sport, including but not limited to:

Golf
Skiing and Snow boarding
Horseback riding
Tennis and Racquetball
Baseball
Soccer

…and any other sport that requires balance, strength, or coordination.

As you age, your skin becomes worn, brittle, and damaged by environmental stressors such as the sun. The resulting wrinkles around your mouth and eyes can make you appear terse and unapproachable. Dr. Kevin Berry can help you fight these signs of aging with regular BOTOX ® Cosmetic treatments.

BOTOX ® Cosmetic is a prescription medication commonly used to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and restore your good looks. This FDA-approved serum is injected into facial muscles to relax them, causing them to release their tough hold on your skin. In this way, you can reduce the appearance of frown lines and other signs of aging so that you can feel confident in your appearance.

Botox ® Cosmetic is a safe way to give yourself a smooth appearance. By blocking nerve impulses, this injectable serum relaxes target muscles that hold onto tough signs of aging. The limited movement of these muscles will temporarily prevent them from pulling on your skin and surrounding muscles in ways that create wrinkles.

Your treatment will use very thin needles, so you shouldn’t feel any discomfort during your visit. If you have sensitive skin, Dr. Berry will work with you to make sure that you feel comfortable during your treatment. Sessions only take a few minutes, and many people see results after just one treatment. Results vary from patient to patient, but you can expect to see a significant improvement for up to four months following your visit. Your results can become more permanent with regular treatments, recommended every four months for best results.

Trigger point injection (TPI) is a treatment for chronic pain that is designed to combat referred pain, which can be notoriously difficult to track down and treat. Referred pain is a crucial pain mechanism in the development of TMJ, which has made it hard for many people with the condition to get treatment that really relieves their symptoms. Because patients report pain in places where there is no obvious problem, the symptoms are often labeled “psychosomatic, ” and people may be prescribed a generic pain medication, antidepressants or other psychological medications, or even a placebo.

Trigger point injection is designed to identify the source of these symptoms and treat them there, relieving discomfort that can often be quite distant from the source.

Trigger point injections numb your pain at the source, not where it’s felt. Referred pain is generated at one point, but it is felt somewhere else that typically shares either a sensory nerve branch or processing point in the brain.

Once the trigger point is located, a local anesthetic is used to numb it. Sometimes an injectable steroid is used as well to help control swelling that can contribute to pain. Depending on the exact circumstances, pain relief may be immediate or may take time to develop.

Benefits of Trigger Point Injections
Trigger point injections are often a better way to address chronic pain in the head, neck, and jaw. That’s because trigger point injections:

Work when other treatments don’t
Relieve pain at injection site and referred site
Provide long-lasting relief
Are a noninvasive treatment
Have little risk of complications
Because of these advantages, trigger point injections are a great option for treating TMJ. The complex configuration of muscles, nerves, and joint structures makes referred pain much more likely.

Denver TMJ and sleep apnea dentist, Dr. Kevin Berry has the education and experience to treat dental patients who are suffering from a variety of conditions and symptoms. Dr. Berry has made his name known as a trusted and highly professional TMJ dentist in Denver. From the diagnosis of TMJ disorder to treatment and even second opinions and re-treatment for those who have experienced a lack of success past efforts to treat their TMJ problems, Dr. Berry is your go to TMJ dentist in Denver.