#97 Treating TMD/TMJ with Competence

Definition of Competence:  The ability to do something successfully or efficiently.

The word competence is derived from two Latin words, 1. “com” which means “together”, and 2. “petere” a verb meaning “to strive, seek, or aim toward”. Therefore, competence means: “to be able to do something successfully or efficiently by striving together.

In everyday use, competence addresses a person’s ability to perform a duty or  task in a predictable, confident, and successful manner.  Practically speaking, it is critical that your surgeon, airline pilot, and attorney exhibit competence.  It is not very critical that your house painter, lawn service, or local politician exhibit competence, although you certainly prefer, they do.

There is a difference in the levels of competence that people expect from others depending on how critical the service provided.

Regarding the treatment of TMD/TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder), what level of competence should a patient expect?  How critical is TMD/TMJ in the overall experience of a patient?  Is it as critical as one would expect from an airline pilot or a surgeon?

Most patients who constantly experience the symptoms of this devastating disease would answer that the level of competence of the provider offering to relieve the symptoms of TMD/TMJ is critical.

The next question asked is, how does one build and demonstrate competence?  As an example, the airline pilot builds competence with many class and book study hours in addition to drilling the procedures over and over again in the cockpit of the airplane or a simulator.  The pilot then demonstrates to an FAA examiner that he can perform all the maneuvers necessary to fly the airplane for which he has taken the training.  Even then, the airline pilot must take recurrent training and demonstrate his abilities every six months, or he will not be allowed to pilot an aircraft with passengers.

If the competence of a pilot and that of a provider treating TMD/TMJ is critical, how does the training, experience, and demonstration of competence compare between the two?

The answer is, “There is no comparison”.  The vast majority of dentists leaving dental school report having either no training or just 2-3 hours of training and experience treating TMD/TMJ.  Once in practice, the dentist can take continuing education courses regarding TMD/TMJ, but the majority of them don’t.  They prefer to spend their continuing education time and money on learning about dental implants and digital dentistry.  Continuing education about TMD/TMJ is further suppressed by the professional consensus that treating TMD/TMJ symptoms is a lost cause since nothing works in the long haul.  “Why learn to treat TMD/TMJ when everybody knows nothing works?  This attitude is demonstrated by the fact that 50% of dentists treat TMD/TMJ with a night guard hoping the patient will not return, and 49.9 % of the remaining dentists refuse to treat the problem

There is a huge difference in the competence of those who treat TMD/TMJ.

That is why the doctors and supporting team at TMJ Services of Brentwood, and our parent company, TMJ Services LLC prides ourselves on our ability to demonstrate competence in the services we perform.

The Urbanek Device and Protocol has been proven effective with an independent university (MTSU) study based on over 3000 successfully completed patients fortified by Dr. Urbanek’s 50 years’ experience treating TMD.  His non-surgical, patented device is further validated with FDA clearance and quality manufactured in our own FDA approved QMS facility.

There is now a growing list of dentists licensed to TMJ Services using the Urbanek Device and Protocol for patients in 19 states.  Each of these dental providers take a course and exam in the proper use of the device and protocol and have access to hundreds of hours of written and video educational materials supported and re-inforced by company quality managers.

We take pride that TMJ services LLC,  TMJ Services of Brentwood, and the licensed doctors using the Urbanek Device and Protocol demonstrate the definition and epitome of competence.