#83 “Alice in Wonderland” and TMD/TMJ

                   “Alice in Wonderland” and TMD/TMJ

When I decided to forgo surgery to treat TMD/TMJ and instead do unbiased independent research, I started the task by interviewing patients.  I had no lack of patients to interview.  At the time, I had performed over 2000 surgical procedures on the Temporomandibular Joint.  Like other surgeons of the era, I had become disenchanted with the surgical results. But in my case, having academic preparation with doctorate degrees in dentistry, medicine, along with a master’s degree in cell biology/anatomy topped with a two-year research fellowship with the National Institute of Dentistry and Craniofacial Research, I decided to figure out why no one had figured out a solution for the devastating symptoms of this widely common disease.

I began by interviewing patients and asking them to share everything they could tell me about their experience with the disease.  I started by just listening to my patients.  In short order, they gave me the key that opened the door that led to the real solution to TMD/TMJ.  I kept hearing that placing something between the front teeth made the symptoms subside.  I followed the direction of my patients and found myself falling down a rabbit hole just like “Alice in Wonderland”.

At the time, there was total consensus among dentists, physicians, and patients that there was no solution for TMD/TMJ.  Everyone agreed.  TMD/TMJ was a conundrum.  There was no answer.  That was the accepted reality.

Falling into the rabbit hole by following what my patients said, just like Alice followed the white rabbit, led to a totally different reality like the weird characters Alice encountered in “Wonderland”.  The solution for the problem is called the Urbanek Device and Protocol.  It is a simple solution found to be extremely successful verified by independent university studies, FDA clearance, and a United States Patent.

The reality I discovered was a simple, effective, non-surgical treatment for TMD/TMJ. The reality it replaced was filled with a smorgasbord of biased, self-serving, un-scientific, and in some cases unethical cast of professional and unprofessional characters similar to the aberrated characters depicted in “Wonderland” of the main stream culture of 18^th century England.

As the numbers of successfully treated patients increased, I encountered the aberrations of our medical establishment like the aberrations of the characters in Alice’s “rabbit hole”.

First, migraine headaches and TMJ headaches are similar if not identical symptoms.  Research admits, no one knows what causes migraine headaches. Yet doctors, at the behest of the pharmaceutical industry, throw a plethora of drugs at the problem hoping to see what sticks without consideration of side effects, not considering the possible cause of TMD/TMJ.

The second is Meniere’s disease, defined as ringing in the ears, subjective hearing loss, and vertigo.  There is no solution according to the ENT doctors. Yet these same symptoms are well known and accepted symptoms of TMD/TMJ.  ENT doctors continue to avoid the notion that Meniere’s Disease can be caused by inflammation of TMD/TMJ even though the symptoms subside by unloading the TMJ using the Urbanek Device and Protocol.

Neck and shoulder pain is the second most common symptom of TMD/TMJ, yet orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons do not consider TMD/TMJ as an option on their differential diagnosis when considering the cause of these symptoms.

Ear pain is one of the most common complaints heard at convenient care clinics, and 100% of these patients will leave with a diagnosis of ear infection and a prescription for antibiotics while the majority have TMD/TMJ.

Dental schools teach that TMD/TMJ is a complicated disease.  No one can figure it out because it is so complicated, while they avoid applying basic science and use the scientific literature which already exists and has for over 70 years.

Dentistry and medicine have not observed the obvious in relation to TMD/TMJ.  They have allowed themselves to be hijacked and controlled by characters who want to maintain the status quo for their own benefit at the detriment of the patients with the problem.

I had no idea what was inside that rabbit hole when I entered it several years ago.  I know what Alice experienced.   There is a difference between what others want you to believe is happening and what is really happening.