#90 Regarding TMD/TMJ: What is Needed and Wanted?

Depending on who you ask you’ll get very different answers.  That’s because everyone starts from their own viewpoint.  The patients who experience the symptoms have no knowledge of how the body works and can only hope the health care provider in the room has the answer that will solve the problem.

Healthcare providers enter the room with their own point of view depending on previous training, experience, specialty, and bias about the symptoms presented. That is why there are so many different treatments for the same symptoms.  The general dentist, primary care physician, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, ENT, orthodontist, neurologist, chiropractor, physical therapist, convenient care clinic nurse practitioner, acupuncturist, psychologist, psychiatrist, and voodoo doctor each enter the scene with their own bias.  Each is trained to address a problem using the knowledge and tools with which they are familiar.

The general dentist thinks the problem is related to the teeth and tries to solve the symptoms by modifying teeth. The primary care physician tries to solve the symptoms by trying different kinds of drugs.  The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon tries to solve the symptoms using various types of surgery. The orthodontist tries to solve the symptoms by moving teeth.  The psychologist tries to solve the symptoms by changing the patient’s attitude.  The psychiatrist does the same by using drugs. The Acupuncturist uses ancient Chinese methods, and the Voodoo Doctor places spells.

After consulting with over 8000 TMD/TMJ patients, both surgical and non-surgical, during a span of 45 years, I have become familiar with each and every type of TMD/TMJ treatment including Voodoo, having spent considerable time as a young double degree (DDS and MD) Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon treating Haitians in a clinic I founded in 1979.  (Fortunately for me, the local voodoo doctor was unsuccessful in his attempt to dispose of his unwanted competition.)

Each of these health care providers needed and wanted to solve the problem by applying their specific type of service.  On the other hand, the patient just wants the symptoms to go away.  Patients have no bias as to what type of service to use unless they have been tainted by information received from outside sources.  Then it becomes a matter of who to believe, creating a different kind of bias.

Regarding TMD/TMJ, what was needed was someone to enter the scene familiar with all the various treatments and viewpoints, with enough knowledge on how the human body operates that all bias was eliminated.

That is exactly what happened 13 years ago when I started my investigation of TMD/TMJ without bias of any kind, including my admitted bias in favor of surgery.  At the time having performed over 2000 TMJ surgical procedures, I gave up my bias and began from the patient’s viewpoint by asking the question of the patient, “What is needed and wanted?”

I found out that in addition to wanting their symptoms to “go away”, they wanted to understand WHY the symptoms were there, and what caused them.  For the most part, patients had no bias and were willing to share what they knew and their experience with the problem.

After interviewing two dozen patients I heard several say that by placing something between their front teeth and gently biting down the pain decreased.  That was the key that led to the discovery of the real mechanism causing all the disparate symptoms of TMD/TMJ.  That was the key that eventually led to the creation of the Urbanek Device and Protocol.  I had no bias to start the investigation.  The patients had no bias about what they shared.   Both of us, patient and doctor, were just sharing unbiased information and the solution magically appeared.

This is a lesson that applies to life well beyond what is “Needed and Wanted” regarding TMD/TMJ.  If we, as interested parties in solving our problems or the problems of this planet, would be willing to set aside our biases and simply exchange conversations on what is “Needed and Wanted” something magical is likely to occur.

If you “need and want” a solution to your TMD/TMJ symptoms don’t hesitate to request a consultation at TMJ Services of Brentwood.