Jaw pain when you chew. Clicking or locking. Morning headaches from a night of grinding. If
this sounds familiar, you may be dealing with TMJ dysfunction, bruxism, or — most commonly
— both together, driven by the same underlying jaw and stress tension. At Khí Tâm Health Hub,
Master Sridevi Tố Hải — Doctor of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine, CHP UK Accredited, 20+
Years Clinical Experience — offers a doctor-led, root-cause approach in Battersea, SW11. Not a
night guard. Not a dental fix. A structural and nervous-system approach.
About Master Sridevi
Master Sridevi Tố Hải is a Doctor of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine and the Founder of Khí Tâm Therapy®, a proprietary clinical framework refined over more than 20 years of hands-on practice. She is accredited by CHP UK (Complementary Health Professionals), the UK's recognised regulatory body for complementary healthcare practitioners.
Her clinical training is rooted specifically in Vietnamese Traditional Medicine — a distinct tradition with its own diagnostic philosophy, separate from Chinese Traditional Medicine. Master Sridevi views the body as an interconnected system, which is precisely why TMJ dysfunction and bruxism are treated together in her clinic rather than as two unrelated problems. The jaw does not clench in isolation; it responds to tension patterns running through the neck, shoulders, and nervous system.
This whole-body view is what distinguishes her clinical model from a dentist fitting a night guard, or a masseuse offering a generic facial or jaw rub. A night guard is a protective device — it stops teeth wearing down, but it does nothing to release the underlying muscular and fascial tension causing the clenching in the first place. Master Sridevi's approach instead begins with a structured assessment of jaw mechanics, neck and shoulder tension, posture, and stress patterns, before building a personalised treatment sequence.
At Khí Tâm Health Hub in Battersea, this doctor-led model has supported patients with long standing jaw pain, chronic morning headaches from grinding, and clicking or restricted jaw movement who found dental appliances alone insufficient. The clinic is located at 151 Battersea Rise, London SW11 1HP, serving patients across Battersea, Clapham, Wandsworth, and Nine Elms.
The Khí Tâm Method for TMJ And Bruxism
The Khí Tâm Method is Master Sridevi's proprietary Vietnamese Traditional Medicine framework, structured around five interconnected body layers: skin, muscle, fascia, joint/bone, and energy pathway. For TMJ dysfunction and bruxism, this framework is particularly relevant because both conditions typically share the same underlying driver — chronic jaw and neck muscle tension, frequently reinforced by stress.
A conventional approach tends to treat TMJ (the joint) and bruxism (the grinding habit) as separate issues — a dentist addresses the teeth and fits a night guard, while jaw pain might be referred to a physiotherapist or le unaddressed entirely. The Khí Tâm Method instead treats them as one connected pattern.
Master Sridevi's assessment examines the jaw's muscle layer (masseter, temporalis, and surrounding muscles, which are o en in a state of chronic low-grade contraction even during waking hours), the fascia layer (connective tissue linking the jaw to the neck, shoulders, and upper chest — tightness here can perpetuate clenching patterns), the joint layer (the temporomandibular joint itself, checking for restricted movement, clicking, or asymmetry), and the energy pathway layer (the nervous system's stress response, which is frequently the true root cause driving both daytime clenching and nighttime grinding).
Treatment typically combines manual fascia and muscle release around the jaw, neck, and shoulders, gentle joint mobilisation where appropriate, and energy-balance techniques aimed at calming the nervous system's stress response. Because bruxism is so strongly linked to stress physiology, addressing the nervous system layer is o en the piece most conventional dental approaches miss entirely.
This combined, root-cause approach is why patients o en notice improvements not just in jaw pain, but in related symptoms like tension headaches and neck stiffness that a night guard alone was never going to touch.
What to Expect
Assessment
Your first session opens with a detailed conversation about your symptoms — jaw pain, clicking, grinding awareness, morning headaches, stress levels — followed by a hands-on assessment of your jaw mechanics, neck and shoulder tension, and posture. Master Sridevi identifies which of the five body layers are most contributing to your specific pattern.
Treatment
Your session combines manual release of the jaw, neck, and shoulder muscles and fascia, gentle jaw joint mobilisation where indicated, and energy-balance techniques focused on calming stress-driven muscle tension. Sessions are calm and clinical, paced to your comfort — jaw tissue can be sensitive, particularly around the masseter and temporalis muscles.
Aftercare
You'll leave with practical guidance: simple jaw-release and neck stretches to practise between sessions, awareness techniques for daytime clenching, and a realistic outline of how many sessions your presentation is likely to benefit from. Many patients are advised on a short course of sessions, since chronic jaw tension and bruxism patterns have o en built up over months or years and respond best to consistent, structured care.
3 Anonymized Case Studies
James had worn a night guard for two years but continued to wake with jaw soreness and tension headaches most mornings. His assessment revealed significant tension through his masseter muscles and restricted fascia across his neck and shoulders, likely linked to a demanding, high-stress job. A er a course of Khí Tâm Method sessions combining jaw and neck fascia release with energy-balance work, he reported fewer morning headaches and noticeably less jaw soreness on waking within several weeks.
A long-time teeth grinder unaware of the extent of his bruxism until his dentist flagged significant tooth wear, Marcus came to Khí Tâm Health Hub a er his night guard failed to reduce his reported jaw fatigue and headaches. His sessions focused heavily on the energy-pathway layer, given his high self-reported stress levels, combined with manual jaw and neck release. He reported feeling calmer overall and experiencing fewer stress-related jaw flare-ups during the day
Priya noticed daytime jaw clicking and occasional locking, alongside chronic neck stiffness she'd previously treated separately with a physiotherapist. Her assessment connected the two issues to shared fascia restriction running from her jaw through her neck and upper shoulders. Following a structured course of sessions, she reported improved jaw movement, reduced clicking frequency, and better overall neck mobility.
Two Treatment Options
Master Sridevi offers two session lengths, matched to your presentation and stage of care.
Not sure which is right for you? Master Sridevi can advise during a short consultation before
you commit to a full session.
TMJ & Teeth Grinding (Bruxism) Therapy
30 minutes
Best suited to follow-up sessions once your treatment plan is underway, targeted relief for jaw or neck tension flare-ups, and ongoing maintenance once symptoms have improved. Suitable for milder presentations or continuing progress between longer sessions
TMJ & Teeth Grinding (Bruxism) Therapy
60 minutes
Recommended for your initial session, where a full assessment of jaw mechanics, neck and shoulder tension, and stress patterns is required, and for combined or long-standing TMJ and bruxism cases needing broader work across the jaw, neck, and nervous system. Most new patients are advised to start here.