I have successfully diagnosed and treated many "TMJ" patients. This problem is more common that one would think and is correctly referred to as TMD, which stands for Temporo-Mandiblular Disorder.
There are many health professionals who think they have the answer for TMD sufferers, and granted, they will have some success and some failures. In my opinion, the true measure of their success is more of a measure of their patients ability to adapt to their latest treatment, rather than responding to anything that is addressing the true cause of their problem.
We live in a society whose health professions develop treatment protocols for many ailments based on what is considered "NORMAL". The dental profession has typically tried to treat this very complex problem based on what our profession as a whole considers to be normal. Well, just what is "normal" when it comes to TMD problems?
TMD patients can have many signs and symptoms that elicit no pain what so ever, all the way to extreme chronic debilitating pain. If the treating health professional is not trained to identify these subtle signs and symptoms, they will be either missed all together, or diagnosed as something else. For that reason, it becomes very confusing and nearly impossible to establish what normal is because so many people have some form of this disorder and don't even know it.
As one of a rapidly growing number of Neuromuscular Dentists, I understand this phenomenon, and I help my patients find what is "normal" for each of them as individuals and help them get their quality of life back again.
How do we do this and why is it so successful... visit my blog again next week for more info, or give my office a call and we'll be glad to help 509-466-6979.
