01
You wake with a tight, tired jaw.
Soreness that is worst on waking points to something happening overnight rather than during the day. Clenching in sleep is one possible explanation. It is not the only candidate.
Wellness Dental · East Tucson
Jaw pain and bite trouble in East Tucson
Jaw joint trouble turns up in ordinary ways: a tight jaw first thing, a click on opening, headaches at the temples, back teeth flattening off. Several different things can produce those signs. Which of them applies to you is settled by an examination, not by reading.
Call Now (520) 214-2484
Is This You
Is this you?
None of what follows is a diagnosis, and a page cannot hand you one. These are simply the things people tend to notice, and to mention first.
02
The joint clicks, pops or catches when you open.
Plenty of jaws make noise without ever hurting, and noise on its own settles very little. A jaw that locks, or catches partway open, is worth raising early.
03
Headaches sit at your temples, or just in front of the ears.
The muscles that close the jaw run up the side of the head, which is why people connect the two. Headaches have many causes, though, and jaw muscle is only one of them.
04
Your back teeth look shorter and flatter than they once did.
Wear builds up across years and is hard to spot in your own mouth. Chipped edges, and front teeth gone thin at the tip, belong to the same picture.
05
Someone who sleeps near you has mentioned the grinding.
People who grind at night are usually the last to find out. Bring what you have been told. It is real information, and it is difficult to come by any other way.
06
Your teeth no longer seem to meet the way they did.
A bite can start to feel unfamiliar after dental work, after a tooth is lost, or for no reason you can put a finger on. Whether that change matters is a question for an examination.
The Options
What an assessment looks at
What suits one particular jaw belongs to a consultation, not to a page like this one. What an examination generally looks at can be described honestly enough.
What the bite is doing
How the upper and lower teeth meet, which of them touch first, and whether one side carries more of the load than the other. A bite has to be looked at directly. Symptoms on their own do not describe it.
What the joint is doing
The jaw joint sits just in front of each ear, where it can be felt and listened to as the jaw opens and closes. How wide the opening is, whether the jaw travels straight, and whether it clicks or catches, all form part of that examination.
What the teeth and muscles show
Flattened biting surfaces, chipped edges, cracks, and tenderness in the muscles along the jaw and temple. Wear is a record of what a mouth has been doing for years, whether or not the person noticed it happening.
Before Anything Begins
Nothing is decided before it is seen.
The consultation comes first, whatever you are here about. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
A 3D scan
The consultation includes a scan, so a plan is drawn from what is actually there rather than from a guess.
A written plan
You leave with it on paper, including the cost, and decide in your own time. Nothing is treated on the day.
One dentist
Dr. Duaa Hamoud, DMD sees you herself — the same person at the consultation and at the treatment.
The Money Part
It costs an hour, and not a dollar.
The consultation is free and there is no obligation. You leave with the cost in writing before anything is booked, so the decision is yours to make away from the chair.
If a plan turns out not to be for you, that is a perfectly good outcome of a consultation.
Delta Dental, United Concordia & TRICARE
Accepted at the practice today.
Not one of those?
Call (520) 214-2484 and we’ll tell you where things stand.
Quick Questions
The things people ask first.
If yours isn’t here, the consultation is the place for it — or call and ask.
—of 03 open
No, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. Everything above describes signs people recognise in themselves, which is a different thing from a diagnosis. Jaw pain can come from the joint, from muscle, from the bite, from a tooth, or from something outside dentistry altogether. Telling those apart takes an examination of the actual jaw.
No. Grinding and clenching are one explanation among several, and settling on it early can send you off in the wrong direction. This is one of those problems where the cause has to be established before anything sensible can be said about what to do.
With an examination, and the consultation is the way in. It is free, worth $500, and puts you under no obligation at either end of it. Reckon on an hour or so, with a 3D scan included, and the plan written down for you to carry away. No treatment happens that day. Parking sits right at the door.
Also At This Practice
On the wrong page? Try one of these.
No Cost, No Obligation
Start with a conversation.
About an hour with Dr. Duaa. A scan, straight answers, and a written plan you take home.
$0a $500 consultation
- A 3D scanA full digital scan of your teeth and bite, with no impression putty.
- Straight answersWhat is actually going on, what the options are, and what each one involves.
- A written planCosts included, on paper, yours to take away and think about.
- No pressureBook when you are ready, or don’t.
Parking at the door. Nothing is treated on the day, and there is nothing to sign.