Archive for August, 2024

Definition of Competence:  The ability to do something successfully or efficiently. The word competence is derived from two Latin words, 1. “com” which means “together”, and 2. “petere” a verb meaning “to strive, seek, or aim toward”. Therefore, competence means: “to be able to do something successfully or efficiently by striving together. In everyday use, […]

It is very common for a patient to arrive at our office for a TMD/TMJ consultation with a bag full of night guards.  Often the bag contains 2-3 guards, and I have seen as many as 8 from the same patient.  Sometimes the guards have been made by the same dentist, and sometimes they have […]

The first scientific paper on the relationship between the symptoms of TMD/TMJ was published in 1934.  The author, James B. Costen MD, an ENT surgeon from St. Louis identified and discussed the problem and theorized the cause of the long list of disparate symptoms as missing posterior teeth.  Thus, began a 90-year marathon of less […]