TMJ Services

I have learned a lot in the 50+ years I have been treating patients with TMD.  Looking back, I have learned more about the disease and how to treat it properly by listening to my patients as they describe the symptoms and the impact these symptoms have on their life.  I have discussed many times how my […]

Ear Pain is one of the most common symptoms of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD).  I have listened to patients describe it a thousand times.  It’s described as a sharp or dull constant pain originating from the area of the external auditory canal.  Patients point to the ear canal and say that it feels like it is coming from inside their head, deep inside the ear canal.  Many of them share […]

Many would call me an empath.  I don’t like to see people hurt and in pain.  As a surgeon, I found myself very uncomfortable doing surgery that I knew would cause a lot of post-surgical pain.  Thank God for Demerol and Morphine.  Forty-Eight hours on pain medication after the most complicated surgery, the patient was able to say that the pain was tolerable. Once the pain was on the down slope, it […]

I am sorry to say that the profession of dentistry has missed the mark after 70 years of trying to figure out how to treat Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD).  For 70 years it has been a disorganized journey because the scientific investigators in the dental establishment claimed the Temporomandibular Joint, (TMJ) was different from all the other joints […]

This is a profound question.  Is there really any difference between Migraine headaches caused by inflammation of the Temporomandibular Joint, (TMJ), better known as Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, (TMD).  After successfully treating over 5000 patients with TMD, I am profoundly impressed and disenchanted with the number of people who have been diagnosed by a physician as having Migraine Headaches who present to […]

“There is a place for surgery in treating TMD, but it’s not surgery on the TMJ”  In the 1980’s, just about every Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon was doing surgery on the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) in an attempt to help the thousands of patients who suffered from the symptoms of Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD).  The textbooks, annual meetings, […]

If the World Health Organization compiled a list of all the diseases on the planet, TMD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) would undoubtedly be on the list as one, if not the number one, least understood disease.  This would not be because there is a lack of information about the disease. It would not be because there is a lack of scientific studies […]

Through the years I have talked to hundreds of patients with TMD symptoms that were told by orthodontists that the solution for their problem was to straighten their teeth.  The theory behind orthodontic treatment for TMD is as follows.  Malocclusions encourage bruxism.  Bruxism is one of the known causes of joint damage and TMD.  Straight teeth discourage bruxism by removing all the interferences in the bite.  Limiting bruxism limits […]

TMD, (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) is a disease that has been misunderstood by the dental and medical communities for decades.  The problem has been created because TMD presents the doctors with a variety of disparate and confusing symptoms.  When a doctor, especially a physician, is faced with a patient who states they have frequent headaches that are also associated with ear pain and tingling of […]

There are two medical conditions (diseases) that have no solution.  Scientists and researchers admit they don’t know what causes migraine headaches and Meniere’s Disease.  These are two very different diseases with very different symptoms.  The only thing they share is that the symptoms of both are in the head.   Migraine headaches are defined as a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurring episodes of moderate-to-severe headache pain. Unlike a typical headache, migraine is […]