A jaw that aches, clicks, or locks usually traces back to the temporomandibular joint. Dr. Ben Areheart evaluates TMJ disorder at our Rock Hill office and starts with the most conservative treatment that will work. You'll know the plan and the cost before anything begins.
Prefer to talk? Call (803) 328-3886.
TMD wears a lot of disguises. Plenty of people chase headaches or ear trouble for years before anyone examines their jaw.
An ache in front of your ear that gets worse when you chew or talk a lot. Pain that's there when you wake up usually points to clenching overnight.
A click when you open wide or a pop when you bite down. Noise by itself isn't always trouble, but noise plus pain means the joint wants a look.
Tension-style headaches that start near the temples or ears, paired with tight jaw muscles when you press on them.
Fullness, aching, or ringing with no infection behind it. The joint sits right against your ear canal, so it sends false alarms next door.
Trouble opening all the way, a hesitation mid-open, or a jaw that briefly catches. Locking is the symptom we most want to see quickly.
Grinding hard enough to strain the joint also flattens teeth. When one is already damaged, a crown can rebuild it once the grinding is under control.
If you have a dental emergency, we can often treat you the same day depending on the complexity of the problem. A jaw stuck open or closed counts.
There's no single fix for TMD because there's no single cause. Clenching and grinding, an uneven bite, arthritis, an old injury, plain stress. Often two of those working together. So the first appointment is detective work, not treatment.
Dr. Areheart examines the joint and the muscles around it, watches how your jaw opens and tracks, checks your bite, and reads the wear on your teeth. Wear patterns tell the story. They show what your jaw does at night while you sleep.
Treatment starts conservative. Depending on what he finds, that may mean a night appliance to take pressure off the joint, changing habits that overwork it, or repairing teeth that grinding has worn down so your bite meets evenly again. When damage runs across many teeth, rebuilding the bite becomes complete dental restoration territory.
And if yours is one of the few cases that needs a specialist, such as an oral surgeon, he'll say so plainly and coordinate the referral.
A history of your symptoms and what makes them worse. A hands-on exam of the joint, the chewing muscles, and your range of motion. A bite check and a close look at tooth wear. Then a plain-English explanation of what he found and what he'd do about it.
Dr. Areheart earned his dental degree at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2011 and served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, where his advanced residency covered restorative dentistry, the crowns and rebuilt bites many TMJ cases eventually need. He's practiced at Piedmont Dental since 2014.
That continuity matters for TMD. This is a family dentist office where the same doctor and hygienists see your teeth year after year, which is how grinding damage gets caught early. Our hygienists will often spot the wear at a cleaning before you have felt the first headache.
It depends on the cause and on how much repair your teeth need. A patient who needs a night appliance is in a very different place than one who needs several ground-down teeth rebuilt. That's why we don't quote numbers over the phone.
What we do promise: after the evaluation, Dr. Areheart lays out the plan and the cost before treatment starts. No surprises partway through, and nothing added that you do not need.
TMJ coverage varies a lot from plan to plan, and some plans treat appliances differently than restorative work. We file almost all insurances if your plan allows out of network providers. Our front desk will help with your specific situation.
Yes, and it's usually the right starting point. Most TMD improves with conservative care: night appliances, habit changes, and correcting bite problems, all handled here in Rock Hill. The few cases that need surgery or orthodontic correction are done by specialists we refer to, and we send your records along.
Sometimes. A flare-up tied to a stressful stretch can settle within a few weeks. Pain that keeps coming back, gets worse, or arrives with clicking or locking tends not to fix itself, because the cause is still there every night.
Dr. Areheart takes your symptom history, examines the joint and muscles, watches your range of motion, checks your bite, and looks closely at tooth wear. Then he explains what he found and what he'd recommend, with the cost, before you commit to anything.
It varies more than almost any other dental service. Some plans cover appliances, some only the restorative work, some exclude TMJ entirely. We file almost all insurances if your plan allows out of network providers. Our front desk will help with your specific situation.
Call us at (803) 328-3886. If you have a dental emergency, we can often treat you the same day depending on the complexity of the problem, and a jaw stuck open or closed qualifies.
Call and tell the front desk what you have been feeling. They'll get you in with Dr. Areheart for an evaluation and answer insurance questions on the same call.
Call (803) 328-3886