If taking a big bite out of your dinner makes your jaw click — or worse, lock up — it’s time to consider treatments for your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discomfort.

Losing a permanent tooth or teeth is traumatic. Not only have you lost an essential body part, it’s a body part that’s highly visible. The gap in your gums leaves you open to infection, and to ridicule. You might start hiding your smile, or even avoiding social events, so that you don’t have to reveal the hole in your pearly rows.