Jaw and bite exam
A visit to look at how your teeth meet and how your jaw moves, for adults who wake with a sore jaw or notice wear, chips or clicking. It is a dental exam. It does not diagnose conditions outside the mouth.
What happens
Usually one visit of about an hour.
- 01
Step 1: You talk
Dr. Okada asks about your mornings, your sleep, when the soreness began and what you've already tried.
- 02
Step 2: She looks
Your teeth for wear, chips and cracks, your gums, and the way your top and bottom teeth meet.
- 03
Step 3: She checks the jaw
How wide it opens, how it moves from side to side, and whether it clicks. She presses lightly over the muscles.
- 04
Step 4: X-rays, if she needs them
Only if she needs them to see something the exam can't. She tells you why first.
- 05
Step 5: You hear what she sees
In plain words: what she found, what it may be connected to, and what the options are, including doing nothing yet.
Jaw pain has many causes, some of them outside the mouth. If she thinks someone else should look first, she says so.
Comfort, choices and care
Comfort
Nothing is numbed. Pressing on jaw muscles can be tender; tell her and she eases off.
Choices, and what if you wait
You might choose a guard, a period of watching how things go, or a visit with a physician or another provider. She tells you which she'd pick and why.
Risks and after-care
X-rays use a small dose of radiation, and she takes them only when she needs them. You may feel a little tender after the exam; it passes.
How it is billed
You get a written estimate before the visit if you are paying without insurance, and a receipt after.
How fees work
Questions about the exam
Will you tell me what is causing my sore jaw?
She will tell you what she sees in your teeth and bite and what may be connected. Jaw soreness has many causes, and she will say when someone else should look.
Do I need X-rays?
Not always. She takes them only if the exam leaves a question they can answer.
What do I bring to the exam?
A list of your medicines, any night guard you have now, and recent X-rays if you have them.
Provided by a general dentist
Dr. Haruko Okada, DDS, general dentist, licensed in Florida.