Emily Kwong

Why people get it, who's most susceptible to it, and how relief is possible.

I'm Emily Kwong, and you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

OK, Justin, so I read that an estimated 5 to 10 percent of the U.S.

population has some form of TMJ disorder.

That is a lot of people.

Do we know what causes this and who is most susceptible to developing it?

Got it.

OK, how do our teeth, which sit on the jaw, affect this joint, which is all the way the jaw joint is like all the way in the back, right?

Like it's like right below our ear canal.

So like when we look at the architecture of the jaw, why do our teeth matter?

Right.

I never realized our teeth support our jaw.

Without it, we would just have a gap mouth.

I thought the teeth supported my appetite, you know, like emotionally speaking, the teeth.

But the teeth are like serving an architectural purpose in our head.

What are some of the signs that a person has TMD?

And what are the signs that they don't?

Like, how do you even go about diagnosing this?

How do you say, like, aha, it is temporomandibular joint disorder.

It's TMD for sure.