#32 Why Patients with TMD/TMJ Are So Confused and Frustrated

I hear the stories directly from the patients.  Over the past 8 years I have interviewed at least 5000 patients with TMD.  Each history is different for sure.  I’ve never heard two identical histories.  On the other hand, most have similarities.

They are different because the symptoms move from place to place and change in intensity and frequency constantly.  They cover a group of symptoms that have no business being connected in the mind of the patient.  Even the name of the problem is confusing because for 70 years everyone, both patients and doctors refer to the problem at TMJ which is the name of the joints affected, the temporomandibular joints.  If your knee is causing serious problems with movement and pain, would you tell your family, friends, and doctors you have “Knees”. So why does everyone refer to pain and disfunction of the jaw joints by naming the joint.  Serious confusion starts with the name of the problem.

Besides the wrong name, there are two primary reasons everyone has been confused.

First is the issue of the disparate symptoms.  It is well established and agreed upon in the medical literature that the recognized symptoms of TMD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) are: Frequent and recurring Headache, Earache, Neck and Upper Back Pain, Shoulder Pain, Tinnitus, Subjective Hearing Loss, Vertigo, Arm/Hand/Finger Tingling and Numbness, and Various types of Jaw locking.   The noises and the patient descriptions of these symptoms vary all over the board.  For example, I have heard more than two dozen ways patients describe subjective hearing loss.  When patients talk about this symptom to their friends, family, health care providers and compare descriptions from others on the internet it creates a lot of doubt and confusion and concern if the symptom in question is comparable at all.  And this is just one of the symptoms.  I would guess that my patients have described their headaches in hundreds of different ways.

When you take the 10 primary symptoms and multiply each with the various symptom descriptions and combination of symptoms, you can see why there are millions of variations of TMD. “No two patients have ever given me an identical description of their symptoms”.

The second and most alarming cause for the confusion is the medical and dental establishment and literature maintaining that the above listed symptoms do not have a common relationship and cause.  This is alarming because the scientific investigation has already been completed that shows inflammation in a joint can cause each one of the symptoms mentioned.

This simple fact is unknown to most patients and doctors who deal with TMD.  The few that are aware that the common denominator of TMD is inflammation do not want to incorporate its resolution into treatment because it is too simple and avoids and does not justify a long laundry list of complicated and expensive treatment.

Until the majority of the medical and dental establishment begins to focus on the resolution of inflammation within the TMJ, the patient’s confusion and frustration will continue.

If you would like to learn more about our simple approach to resolving inflammation within the Temporomandibular Joint, you can schedule a consultation at a convenient time.