#151 TMD and My Responsibility

I began my research to discover the solution for Temporomandibular Joint Disorder, (TMD) in 2014. TMD had been a conundrum for the dental profession for 90 years. Before 2014 I performed over 2000 surgical procedures on the Temporomandibular Joint. Two-thirds of these I considered successful, and one-third returned within a year or two returned with the same symptoms. I decided I could not look my patients in the eye and tell them I would fix their problem, knowing one-third of them would be back in a year or two. Fortunately, I was equipped with a broad education including both dental and medical degrees, a master’s degree in cell biology and anatomy and two years’ experience as a research fellow with the National Institutes of Health/ National Institutes of Dental/Craniofacial Research.

Fortunately, my research proved successful. My discoveries are described in many of my previous blog articles and prior podcast episodes. Simply stated, I discovered that it is chronic inflammation within the TMJ that creates all the disparate symptoms. By using a simple oral device and protocol that unloads the joint like a sling unloads the elbow or a set of crutches unloads the knee, the inflammation dissipates, and the symptoms disappear rather rapidly. This was a profound discovery that flew directly in the face of all prior studies and attempts to treat the problem by treating the symptoms, rather than treating the cause.

Since 2014, my practice and the other practices throughout the United Sates that use the Urbanek Device and Protocol to non-surgically treat TMD have helped more than 7,000 patients with documented success rates of 90+ percent. These volumes and rates of success are far superior to any previous treatment modalities including drugs, surgery, physical therapy, psychological therapy, dry needling, chiropractic, and Botox, (Botulinum Toxin A).

TMD has a very high prevalence among females because estrogen exacerbates inflammation. Since chronic inflammation is the common denominator for all the disparate symptoms of TMD, 90% of patients with the problem are females between the ages of 13 and 75. Doing the math, 76 million women in the US have TMD symptoms, most of which have been misdiagnosed as Migraine Headaches, Meniere’s Disease, and ear infections.

I and the doctors in our network of providers have only treated 7,000 of the 76 million patients with the disease. Many of these patients have been run around in circles by the medical and dental establishment going from doctor to doctor and clinic to clinic with confusing symptoms and even more confused doctors.

Having discovered the actual mechanism that causes all the symptoms places a lot of responsibility on me to disseminate this information as widely and rapidly as possible. I am well aware that every morning, millions of men and women wake up to the expectation of having a miserable day because they suffer from one or more of the symptoms of TMD, (Frequent and/or recurring headache, earache, jaw pain, neck pain, upper pack and shoulder pain, ringing in the ears, fullness in the ears, vertigo, arm/hand/finger tingling and numbness and various types of jaw locking)

It is now my responsibility to see every person who needs a solution to TMD has it available to them. If I saw a child about to run into the street, it would be my responsibility to lead the child away. There is no difference between leading one child to safety and helping 76 million people find relief when there was none. However, my responsibility to help 76 million is overwhelming

I view my responsibility openly and unfortunately find it in conflict with factions that find my discoveries in conflict with their economic health. There are many corners of the medical and dental establishment that find it irritating that we have discovered something that rocks the status quo. For that, I have no apologies. What I uncovered was not the first and won’t be the last discovery that changes the paradigm for treating a disease. Facts always beat confusion. Truth always overcome lies. Integrity always succeeds.