#187 TMD Is the World’s Most Misunderstood Disease

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 on the disease.  It would not be because there is a lack of doctors faced with treating the disease. It would not be because there is a lack of patients with the disease.  It is because the profession of dentistry was tasked with and given the responsibility of finding the solution for this problem and the profession of medicine did not want anything to do with it.  And dentists and dentistry failed miserably in doing the work and providing guidance toward a solution.  It could be summarized as simply a lack of interest.  This left the development of a solution to those who had a bias for their own treatment platforms.  “If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. 

The dental profession had separated itself by focusing on treating teeth and the structures which support teeth since its inception. Dentists and the dental profession were not used to looking at the mouth and associated structures, including the teeth, as an integral part of the body’s systemic systems.  The Orthopedic Surgeons who treat the other joints of the body are very familiar with how the various systems within the body affect the joints they treat.  Dentists on the other hand did not have the luxury of thinking how the body’s various systems integrate with the structures they treat.  Physicians look at the body as one highly integrated structure with several finely integrated systems responsible for health or illness.  Dentists, by the nature of their training in contrast, look at the mouth and associated structures as a separate entity, very different and distinct from the rest of the body. 

That is the reason that every dental school teaches its students that the TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) is unique and unlike any other joint in the body.  They teach it operates differently than any other joint in the body.  There is no wonder that dentistry has made no progress and discovering a solution for TMD when they think the TMJ operates on different principles than the other joints in the body. Dentistry was not familiar with integrating the larger body of knowledge of the systems of the body and allowed treating symptoms to become the unofficial standard of care.  If your head hurts, drug it with neuroleptics or paralyze it with Botox.  Who cares if the whole process is driven by the pharmaceutical representatives who thrive on the number of drugs they sell at the detriment of the patients who have to live with the consequential side effects and never-ending expense. 

It took an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, with both medical and dental degrees, a degree in cell biology and gross anatomy, and research training through the National Institutes of Health/National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research on facial growth and development to set aside all bias and look at TMD as an orthopedic surgeon trained in research would look at the disease.  He asked the question, “How does TMD operate like all the other joints in the body?  How is TMD like knee, hip, and elbow damage?  What does TMD have in common with all the other damaged joints of the body? 

He found the answers to these questions showed that chronic inflammation within the TMJ creates all the many disparate and, so called “mysterious” symptoms of TMD.  He then developed a simple oral device that rests the TMJ like a set of crutches rests a damaged knee or a sling rests a damaged elbow having played too much tennis.  The response was successfully remarkable and predictable as long as patients followed the recommended protocol. 

This is the story behind the Urbanek Device and Protocol.  It just took a doctor who refused to adhere to the status quo and wanted to help his patients no matter where the truth led him.  Interestingly, He found the truth hidden in plain sight.