#113 The Patients “Fix Me” Mentality and TMD/TMJ

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 symptom or set of symptoms, or because of symptoms that have been going on for some time and have not resolved with home remedies or by previous professional recommendations and treatment.  

For example, a patient may make routine appointments with the hygienist to clean their teeth and a checkup with the dentist to take some x-rays and make sure there is no incipient decay or periodontal disease.  They may do a yearly exam with their primary care physician to check lab work and make sure there are no indicators present for undiagnosed pathology.  These are preventive measures taken to prevent future problems. 

Then, there are visits to the doctor to solve a health problem that the patient is already aware of.  Once they are aware of the problem, most people first attempt to fix the problem themselves.  Cutting your finger slicing tomatoes usually requires a band aid. But if the cut is deep or wide enough, a trip to the ER or the convenient care clinic is warranted.   An occasional headache or stomachache experienced after overindulging on food or alcohol may only require a Tylenol or Motrin tablet or two.  But when these symptoms persist past a tolerable time or beyond a tolerable intensity, it’s time to seek professional help. 

When patients arrive at a health care provider with a known, but unsolvable problem, it is safe to say the patient just wants to be “fixed”.  Patients are not expected to know the steps and material necessary to sew up a wound, nor are they expected to know the steps and material necessary to place a dental restoration.   All they must do is “show up” and the doctor and his staff will handle everything.  It is perfectly appropriate for a patient to arrive under these circumstances and just say “Fix Me !”   

When it comes to treating TMD/TMJ this “fix me” mentality does not apply.  It doesn’t apply because the patient has a large part to play in the process of achieving success in TMD/TMJ treatment.  It turns out that patients who want to solve their TMD/TMJ symptoms fall into two categories.  Type 1 arrives knowing they will need to take responsibility for a portion of their care and comply with instructions.  This is similar to instructions on brushing and flossing the teeth daily to maintain dental health or avoiding overindulging in food and alcohol to maintain body health.  Type 2 arrives and just thinks “Fix Me!” and pretends they to not have to take responsibility for their own care.   

As an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, I spent the better part of 50 years fixing patient’s oral and maxillofacial problems.  After trauma repair, nerve repair, cleft palate repair, facial growth repair, tumor and cancer repair, and missing bone and tooth repair the patient rarely had to do more than take a few days of pain medication and maybe some antibiotic to be compliant. But, when it comes to treating TMD/TMJ non-surgically, the patient’s compliance and responsibility is a major portion of achieving treatment success.  The patient’s portion is not difficult or complicated.  An important part of the patient’s responsibility is to listen and learn about the disease from the doctor during the consultation.  It is the doctor’s responsibility to teach the patient the factors causing the disease and how the symptoms are related to these factors. Half of a good consultation is centered around educating the patient about the disease process.  The second half of the consultation is centered around how the non-surgical oral device works and the protocol for its use.  Patients who learn from the doctor the factors involved in developing TMD/TMJ, and the necessary steps of the protocol can routinely expect rapid and lasting relief from their symptoms. 

The Urbanek Device and Protocol is an FDA cleared, patented, independent university study validated service with proven superlative results having treated over 4,000 patients successfully from Middle Tennessee and now including doctors licensed to use our device and protocol in 18 states and growing.  When you arrive and say, “Fix me!”, know that it’s a team effort.