None of us would normally give any thought to swallowing until it becomes difficult or even have painful swallowing. Swallowing is actually a very complex function that needs the precise coordination of many muscles and the nerves that sense and move these muscles. To swallow you use muscles in your jaw, tongue, and neck to bring liquids and food down your throat safely. Abnormalities in this process may be caused by poor alignment of the jaw and TM joint.
TMJ is cushioned by a soft disk that acts as shock absorber. This disc can move out of place and cause TMJ pain when chewing, and pain when swallowing. This can be particularly frightening and follow with additional symptoms such as clicking or popping jaw. TMD TMJ treatment not only alleviates the symptoms, in most cases completely eliminates them.
TMJ Diagram
The below three images show how the articular disc functions as shock absorption and how a worn down or dislocated disc can cause grinding and irritable pain.
