About Articular Eminence

If you’ve ever dealt with jaw pain or a jaw injury, you’ve probably wondered what happened structurally, and whether or not there are aspects that are vital to the functions of this.  Most of us never considered though what stops out jaw from opening super wide. 

That is the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, which is vital for the function of the jaws. The most particular part of this is what’s called the articular eminence. Here, we’ll discuss the role of this, how this will fit into your TMJ anatomy, and also potential issues too. 

This may seem strange initially, but once you learn a bit more about this, you’ll understand why this is important. 

The articular point of this is pretty much a movable joint.  The eminence is pretty much a projection or raised area of the temporal portion of your skull. 

This is part of the temporal bone, which is a fused part of where the skull is by the ears. The AE is a part of the lower half of the ear area, near the font. It is positioned in front of the hinge on your lower jaw portion, moving downward to get into a semicircular shape. 

The role 

The role of this is pretty much part of the three motion planes, which include going upwards and downwards, each side, and of course the back and forth motion. The AE is a unique structure that guides the pathway near the top part of your jawbone, which is known as the condyle, and the rotation that’s there too. 

The articular tubercle is where the ligaments attach to the TMJ in a lateral sense, with the condule moving it to open up the jaw. 

This portion does actually control how far the jaw is able to open.  When the mandible is lowered, the AE does restrict it by controlling the ability to rotate, and this works with the articular disk toto cushion your movements too. 

Disorders and Treatment 

This can potentially get hurt and affected in some cases, and this is what leads to disorders of TMJ, and that includes clenching and grinding. 

If you notice that there are jaw problems, you should talk to your doctor sooner rather than down the road, and you may need some care for this. 

This is very common, and there are different causes to this, and it can manifest into different symptoms. 

Grinding, clicking, or even popping and tightness or limited mobility of the jaw is very common. T his can actually cause problems based on the angle of this too, and it can intensify with different issues. 

This can sometimes go away over time on its own, but for those more permanent instances, you do need to treat it. The treatments can include pain relievers, medications to treat inflammation, or even relaxers for the muscle. 

Ice along with heat may be used to help relieve this, along with a mouth guard so you’re not grinding. In the worst-case scenario and it’s not getting better, you will need to get surgery for this. But for the most part, that’s considered a last resort, and that also is dependent on the pain that you’re going through too. 

Regardless though, you should most definitely make sure that you get the most that you can out of this, and make sure that you do get the help that you need to take care of the jaw pain, and if it’s affecting that area, you should definitely look into treatment options for this problem so you’re not in pain, and your jaw stops clicking.