#149 TMD Can Have Fatal Consequences

By: Anthony Urbanek, DDS, MS, MD

The well-known symptoms of TMD include frequent and/or recurring headache, earache, neck pain, jaw pain, ringing in the ears, subjective hearing loss, vertigo, upper back and shoulder pain and tightness, arm/hand/finger tingling and numbness, and various kinds of jaw locking.  Forty-five percent of females suffer from one or more of these symptoms between the ages of 13 and 75 originating from inflammation within the Temporomandibular Joint, (TMJ).  It is almost exclusively a female disease with a prevalence of 90% females and 10% males because estrogen exacerbates inflammation. 

Although these symptoms can become very painful and life changing, by themselves they are not lethal.  But if you suffer from TMD, you should be aware of the three categories of deadly circumstances that can occur related to this seemingly non-lethal disease.   

The first is the relationship between inflammation within the TMJ and other systemic diseases.   TMD is generated from inflammation within the confines of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).  Much scientific work has been done showing inflammation from one part of the body can exacerbate inflammatory response in distant body structures including the vessels of the heart, lungs, pancreas, brain, and liver.  Thus, by ignoring the inflammation within the TMJ, and allowing it to go untreated, cardiovascular heart disease, lung disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, and liver disease can be stimulated or made worse.  It stands to reason that eliminating the inflammation within the TMJ can have potential benefits for these potentially life-threatening diseases. 

The second category revolves around the last symptom on the list of symptoms, “various kinds of jaw locking”.   Your first suspicion might be that a patient who cannot chew properly will not be able to eat a sustainable diet.  But in my 50 years as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, I have never seen a patient unable to figure out how to take in enough nourishment to survive, no matter how extreme the facial/jaw disfunction.  Where there is a will, there is a way.   The really dangerous condition arises when the jaw is locked partially or completely closed.  In these cases, the patient is at risk if any additional surgical intervention is necessary.  If the patient with jaw locking develops a dental infection requiring a root canal or extraction, the dental provider will not be able to get into the mouth.  What can start out as a simple dental infection can end up as an uncontrollable acute life-threatening infection. 

If circumstances require general anesthesia, it can be impossible to place the endotracheal tube (breathing tube) in an emergency, and the patient will succumb without a tracheostomy.  This scenario has occurred more than once. 

And the final category is more than sensitive to discuss.  Over my 50-year experience treating TMD both surgically and non-surgically, I have documented three patients who confined they were contemplating suicide because they could not see themselves continuing to live with the constant, never-ending severe pain associated with TMD.  One of these patients documented this statement in a video she made after treatment with complete resolution of her symptoms, obviously emotionally satisfying for both patient and doctor.  Incidentally, the other two also went on to symptom resolution under our care. 

So, TMD can have fatal consequences.  It is not a disease to be taken lightly or dismissed easily.  Just because it is often misdiagnosed, mistreated, or misdirected is not a justification for giving up searching for the solution.  TMD is a progressive disease which often starts out as innocuous noises but ends up as intolerable life changing and occasionally has fatal consequences.   

Here at TMJ Services, using a simple FDA Cleared, independent university study validated, patented, non-surgical device and protocol, over 5000 patients with TMD have been successfully treated.  Please join us in taking your problem seriously.