Symptoms associated with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), commonly caused by a painful misalignment of the jaw, affect your overall well-being. These symptoms can detract from your ability to focus, make you feel isolated, and cause you to withdraw from your community. Unfortunately, this can impact your success in the work place. Recent survey data from two Gallup Panel Web surveys reveal that managers with high well-being are twice as likely to be engaged and succeed compared to those who do not.
Successful Well-Being
Researchers conducted phone-based surveys with 2,658 people holding manager positions in some capacity. They found that only 35% of managers feel engaged in their jobs. Business owners know that managers account for about 70% of their team’s engagement, meaning that manager engagement is important for increased productivity and higher quality work among employees.
In order to find out what makes managers more likely to be engaged, researchers used the five well-being elements—purpose, social, community, physical, and financial— to determine manager well-being. An analysis of the data showed that only 29% of managers thriving in 0-3 of these elements felt engaged at work, compared to 61% of managers thriving in 4-5 of the elements. Although engagement can increase your well-being in multiple elements, this data suggests that managers with lower well-being feel less engaged in the work place.
TMJ and Your Well-Being
Your TMJ symptoms could impact your well-being and put you into the 58% of unengaged managers. One of the well-being elements that TMJ symptoms impact is physical health. TMJ causes pain primarily in your jaw, though pain symptoms can extend to your head, teeth, neck, and shoulders. Even low levels of constant or inconsistent pain can distract you from your work. In addition to pain, TMJ can cause tingling or numbness in your hands and feet, tinnitus, and migraines that all impact your ability to focus and stay engaged. TMJ can also misalign your spine, hips, and shoulders, starting a domino-effect of other problems.
TMJ symptoms can impact your social, community, and purpose well-being elements as well. Tension from your jaw can cause tension headaches and migraines. Studies have shown that migraine pain can cause feelings of social isolation and depression. Tinnitus (phantom ringing and buzzing in the ears) is also linked to social isolation and depression. People suffering from depression are less likely to participate in their community. Many people suffering from depression also struggle with finding purpose in projects and activities, decreasing the desire to complete tasks unless absolutely necessary.
Improve Your Work Engagement With TMJ Treatment
Whether you are a manager, owner, or employee, your engagement at work has a significant impact on your success. If you suffer from TMJ, you can improve your well-being and work engagement through non-surgical TMJ treatment.
Dr. Kevin Berry will start your treatment by measuring your ideal bite using a combination of advanced technologies such as the iCAT Cone Beam Imaging system. Using this data, Dr. Berry will create a custom neuromuscular orthotic (also called a bite splint) to reposition your jaw and alleviate your symptoms. From there, Dr. Berry works with you to determine the cause of your misaligned jaw and correct the problem at the source.
To learn more about how non-surgical TMJ treatment can help you manage your symptoms, please call (303) 691-0267 for an appointment with a Denver TMJ dentist at the TMJ Therapy & Sleep Center of Colorado.
