#74 Willful Ignorance and TMD/TMJ

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder is a devastating disease.  It is a progressive disease which usually starts out with minimal symptoms, once ignored, progresses into multiple symptoms which eventually ruins the patient’s ability to continue with life’s normal functions and duties.  It has been estimated that millions of workplace hours are missed each year in the US because TMD/TMJ.  I have had several women admit to me they are ashamed of being bad mothers and not taking care of their children properly because of the symptoms associated with TMD/TMJ. And I have two documented cases of female patients admitting they were contemplating suicide because of their unrelenting TMD/TMJ symptoms.

The responsibility to treat TMD/TMJ was given, by default, to the dental profession almost 90 years ago after an ENT surgeon, Dr. James Costen, recognized and published the first article about this disease in 1936 known thereafter as Costen’s Syndrome.  The medical profession has no interest in treating a disease that was related to the muscles and teeth attached to the jaw and associated with the Jaw joint.  This disease was given to the dentists to figure out and treat.

Between 1936 and the mid 60’s dentistry ignored the problem completely.  Around 1965 a few dentists began to consider that dental occlusion had possible influence on Consten’s Syndrome.  By the early 1970’s the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons had joined the fray trying to ameliorate TMD symptoms with various surgical procedures.  I was one of them.  By the year 2010 most Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons had given up on trying to treat TMD surgically.

I was one of them.

Except for a few pockets of practitioners, the majority of dentists had given up on trying to treat TMD/TMJ because they had seen for themselves, both non-surgically and surgically that “Nothing Works” and gave up on trying to find a solution.  More importantly, the vast majority of dentists didn’t want anything to do with the TMD/TMJ patient.  Staying ignorant about the disease would grant them justification to tell a patient presenting with the problem that they just don’t know anything about it.  This “Willful Ignorance” is why 50% of dentists tell patients they can’t treat the problem and the other 49% make a dental night guard, giving it to the patient and hoping they won’t return.

Isn’t it the responsibility of the dentist to treat all forms of dental problems?

Yes, it is.

The problem is TMD/TMJ is a medical problem that has been avoided by the medical profession and given to the dental profession which chooses to invoke “Willful Ignorance”.

What will it take for dentists to quit burying their heads in the sand regarding TMD/TMJ?

The obvious answer is for dentistry to find out about an actual solution for the disease.  This has to start with understanding the cause and effect of the relationships of the disease.  In medical terms, this is called the pathophysiology of a disorder.

The pathophysiology of TMD/TMJ is what I figured out, with the help of my patients, 13 years ago.  With that, the non-surgical solution was just a matter of observing the obvious and applying a little physics, cell biology, neuroanatomy, and dental materials to develop the solution.

The Urbanek Device and Protocol is now 13 years old.  Our patented, FDA cleared, non-surgical, independent university study validated device has now been used successfully  in treating over 4000 patients in Middle Tennessee.  There are now an increasing number of dentists licensed to use the Urbanek Device and Protocol throughout the United States and soon in other countries.

The device and protocol is easy to use for both the treating dentist and  patients.  Ease of use and proven success are the two virtues of any health care service.

Dentists no longer have a need to claim “Willful Ignorance”.

If you think your symptoms are related to TMD/TMJ don’t hesitate to call and schedule a consultation.