Healthy Food Choices for TMJ

TMJ is a disorder associated with joint pain and muscle soreness. Learn some healthy options for dealing with TMJ in this video.

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Joint pain
Muscle soreness
Eat soft chewy foods
Avoid hard foods & gum

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Michelle Cooper has been a registered dietician for more than 10 years. She currently works for the state of North Carolina for the New Hanover County School District in the Child Nutrition Department as the supervising registered dietician on staff. She specializes in child nutrition, child fitness and overall child health. She enjoys her job because it allows her to be a pivotal piece of child development.

ALICE MERRITT: Now I am going to talk to you about TMJ. This is a disorder that is often associated with a lot of joint paint and muscle soreness. When you are experiencing this muscle soreness in your jaw, in your neck area and possibly your shoulders, it is very important to eat soft, easy to chew foods. Some healthy options for when you are experiencing TMJ are things like casseroles, soups, yogurt, soft pureed foods. You want to try to avoid any hard candies, chewy things. Also you do not want to chew a lot of gum because that can exhaust the jaw muscles. And if this continues to be a problem, you want to make sure that you consult a physician. So important things to remember about TMJ is you want to try to, when you are having soreness, eat a lot of soft foods, things like--remember our yogurt, casseroles, soups. You want to avoid hard, chewy things and you want to avoid chewing gum. And if it is persistent, remember to consult a physician. These are some healthy things to remember about TMJ.

Healthy Food Choices for TMJ Video

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