|
|
|
|
TMJ News
Bites
March
2011
Volume 3,
Issue 2 |
|
|
As
you may know, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one
of the National Academies of Science, is
conducting a study, Advancing Pain Research,
Care, And Education. At this time, the IOM
panel members would like to hear from individuals
who are living with chronic pain. This is an
opportunity for you to join us in promoting
awareness of TMJ disorders.
- things
that prevent you from getting pain care,
- costs
of pain care,
- the
need for scientific research on pain, especially
the need for treatments that work and don't make
you feel bad, and
- the
need to educate all health care
professionals about chronic pain conditions such
as TMJ disorders.
The
following cities are the locations of IOM panel
members. If you live in one of the them and would
like to share your story/comments with the
committee, and make an even greater impact we will
work with you to prepare an editorial for your
local newspaper. Please contact TMJA at info@tmj.org
for more details.
| Birmingham,
AL |
Kansas
City, MO |
Los
Angeles, CA
|
Durham,
NC |
| Palo
Alto, CA |
Omaha,
NE |
| San
Francisco, CA |
New
York, NY |
| Stanford,
CA |
Portland,
OR |
| West
Haven, CT |
Philadelphia,
PA
|
| Boston,
MA |
Seattle,
WA |
| College
Park, MD |
Vancouver,
WA |
| Ann
Arbor, MI |
|
We're
proud to announce that five years after The TMJ
Association conducted an online patient survey the
resulting paper was recently published in the
Clinical Journal of Pain.
As you can see the scientific process is a
long one but worthwhile. We thank all the
TMJ patients who participated in the survey and
made this possible. We would like to make
the entire paper available to you but legally we
can't. The abstract is available and we are
planning to cover the various aspects of the paper
in future editions of TMJ News Bites.
Look
for more to
come! |
|
|
We're
introducing Sally from Green Bay, WI who recently
sent her story for you to read. Thank you Sally
and enjoy a speedy recovery.
"My
TMJ issues have been present for the last 10
years. It started as migraine headaches and
progressed into neck and shoulder pain. Doctors
sent me to physical therapy and treated the
headaches with numerous medications. We started
narrowing down the pain to the jaw area. One day
my physical therapist tried to loosen up my jaw
for some stretching and didn't like what she felt.
She stopped immediately and told me I should go
see an oral surgeon. At first I didn't understand
but I was willing to try anything to treat the
pain issues I was facing on a daily basis." Read
more. |
|
|
Exercises & Disc
Displacement
There
are two certainties in the TMJ world. One, if you
write an article about TMJ treatments and don’t
have a scientific person review it, you’ll wish
you hadn't done that. Two, if you ever thought
anything about TMJ is simple, it isn't!
Following
the dissemination of our last edition of TMJ
News Bites in which we published the article
on Treatment for TMJ Disc Displacement, our
Clinical Consultant, Dr. Daniel Laskin sent
us the following message for our readers. We
appreciate his constant vigilance of our written
words and we will continue to seek his editorial
expertise prior to publishing an article.
Thank you Dr. Laskin.
Exercises
or Splints?
TMJ
News Bites is an important source of new
information for patients with various
temporomandibular disorders. However, because of
the brief nature of the items presented, it may
occasionally involve statements that have the
potential of being confusing to the readers. This
was true in the January/February issue, which
cited a study that showed that therapeutic
exercises brought about earlier recovery of jaw
function than splints. However, it did not mention
that this was only studied in patients with
non-reducing, anteriorly displaced discs (“closed
lock”). In such patients, properly done exercises
can certainly be helpful in many patients, and may
be the first line of therapy. However, in those
patients whose internal disc derangement is caused
by chronic tooth clenching and grinding, a splint
to control such parafunction is also indicated to
prevent the condition from worsening. Thus, the
real message is not exercises or splints. Rather,
it is that both exercises
and splints may be indicated in patients with
closed lock.
Has your
body clock adjusted to springing an hour ahead as
you moved your clock forward on March 13? Getting
a good night's sleep is often difficult for TMJ
patients because of pain. Check out the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide to Healthy Sleep. There
are some great suggestions on improving your
sleep. |
|
|
| | |
| 13625 Bishop's Dr. |
Brookfield, WI 53005
US | | | |
