#91 TMD/TMJ and Apathy

You might ask, “What does Apathy have to do with TMD/TMJ?”   The answer depends on who you’re asking.  If you your asking patients with TMD/TMJ you’ll get an answer that is quite different from asking doctors who treat TMD/TMJ.

First, let’s define apathy.

According to Mirriam-Webster APATHY is:

1. : lack of feeling or emotion : IMPASSIVENESS

drug abuse leading to apathy and depression

2. : lack of interest or concern: INDIFFERENCE

political apathy

I have personally treated over 6000 patients for TMJ/TMD over my 50-year career as a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon.  The first 36 years and 2000 patients I treated TMD/TMJ surgically while the most recent 14 years and 4000 patients have been limited to treating TMD/TMJ non-surgically.

I have witnessed hundreds of patients in apathy regarding their TMD/TMJ symptoms. The most apathetic have experienced the symptoms of TMD/TMJ for decades and were seen and treated by an ever-expanding number of health care providers who offered various diagnoses and treatments, none being effective over time. I have been told many times by patients, “You are my last hope.”  Some say, “I have seen so many doctors I have given up on finding a solution for my problem and think I’ll just have to live with these symptoms for the rest of my life.”  Shockingly, I even have documented a few that are so apathetic about their long-standing condition they admit to considering suicide and have said “I can’t stand the pain any longer.”  These have given up on finding a solution leading to apathy, depression, and giving up on life.  Fortunately, no one has acted on their suicidal ideation.

Patients are apathetic regarding TMD/TMJ because standard medical and/or dental care was not able to supply the answer to their problem.

When you ask a doctor what apathy has to do with TMD/TMJ you will get a different answer from a different viewpoint.  The viewpoint of the health care provider is a desire to “fix” or ameliorate the patients’ symptoms and get them “well”. When they find there is no effective treatment to “fix” the problem they become apathetic about the diagnosis.  That has been the state of the healing professions regarding TMD/TMJ for the past 90 years since Dr. James Costen first described the symptoms and related them to the temporomandibular joint in 1934.

In 2024 the consensus regarding TMD/TMJ among physicians, dentists, and all varieties of health care providers is “Nothing Works”.  Half the practicing dentists supply a night guard and tell the patient it will treat their TMD symptoms even though they know night guards are ineffective, and the other half of dentists don’t want anything to do with TMD/TMJ.  Physicians give palliative drugs that may give short term relief while creating substantial detrimental side effects.  Physical therapists and chiropractors apply their technology knowing the effects will only be short term.  Eventually, they all throw up their hands and just become apathetic about the problem.

That has been the history of TMD/TMJ until recently, when 14 years ago when I, as an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon who had given up on treating TMD/TMJ surgically, refused to be apathetic about the problem and used my broad spectrum of training and knowledge to investigate TMD/TMJ without bias and pre-conceived notions.

Starting this investigation by inviting patients to “tell me everything you can about your experience with the problem”, the patients gave me the key as to where to look.  I looked there and found that what the patients told me worked very well.  Then I figured out why it worked so well.

After that, it was just a matter of applying this simple technology to the patients with TMD/TMJ and the good news began to spread rapidly.

Currently, TMJ Services of Brentwood has almost 900 health care providers from Middle Tennessee referring patients with TMD/TMJ symptoms to our practice.

In addition, a growing number of dentists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and orthodontists throughout the country have become licensed to apply our FDA cleared, patented, independent university studied and validated technology to patients in their own practice.

If you are one of the thousands of patients or health care providers who have become apathetic regarding TMD/TMJ I invite you to review the information on our web site, www.urbanektmj.com.  Join us in our mission to provide patients and dental care professionals with a system to safely eliminate TMJ/TMD with an effective, non-invasive, and affordable solution.