TMJ Services

Burning tongue or other less than comfortable sensations of the tongue is a relatively rare phenomenon. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Section on Otolaryngology, burning mouth syndrome occurs in about 90 to 120 of 100 000 people, although some studies report a frequency as high as 18% of the population. Women are […]

Before answering this question, I need to first define Insurance.  According to the dictionary, “Insurance is a practice or arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a premium”.    There is a huge difference between medical insurance and […]

At first, the title of this article may sound condescending to some.  It is not written with that intention.    Let me explain.  All patients visit doctors for the same reason.  Patients visit doctors because they need help maintaining their health or solving a particular health problem.  The visits can be precipitated because of a recent […]

It has been 90 years since Dr. James Costen, an ENT surgeon from St. Louis first described the symptoms of TMD, (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder), in 1934.  It was not until an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon with substantial training and experience in cell biology and anatomy along with both medical and dental degrees having performed 2000 […]

My Associate, Dr. Urbina, stepped into my office last week and asked me to see a patient he was currently examining with typical TMD/J symptoms.  The patient could only open her mouth to about one finger width and could not eat anything other than very soft or pureed food.  Her x-ray also showed evidence of […]

Not long ago I walked into an examining room to check on a patient who had used our oral device and protocol for a total of 8 weeks.  Whether the scheduled appointment is at the 3 week, 2 month, 4 month, or 6 month interval, I always ask the same question.  “On average, what percentage […]

“Status Quo” is a Latin phrase meaning “The Existing State of Affairs”.    Let’s start by describing the current existing state of affairs regarding TMD/TMJ. No one, doctor and patient alike, will disagree that TMD/TMJ is a conundrum, a confusion, an enigma, and has been since the first description of the disease in medical literature in […]

“Status Quo” is a Latin phrase meaning “The Existing State of Affairs”.    Let’s start by describing the current existing state of affairs regarding TMD/TMJ. No one, doctor and patient alike, will disagree that TMD/TMJ is a conundrum, a confusion, an enigma, and has been since the first description of the disease in medical literature in […]

The title of this article is a quote from a recent patient sitting in our examination room during her TMD/TMJ consultation.  She had endured 20 years of headaches, earaches, neck pain, jaw pain, ringing in her ears, subjective hearing loss, vertigo, upper back and shoulder pain, arm hand finger tingling and numbness, and inability to […]

TMD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) is a devastating disease, not just because the symptoms ruin the person’s ability to enjoy life, but because historically no one could figure out the mechanism causing the symptoms.  This left the patient without hope of finding a solution, which frequently created a feeling of depression, which exacerbated the fear and […]