TMJ Association, Ltd.

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Online TMD Diet Diary Research Project

Online TMD Diet Diary Research Project The TMJ Association received the following request from Professor Justin Durham and his research team at Newcastle University. We encourage TMJ patients to participate in this project as it is an under researched

Drug Induced Bruxism

The authors of this article state that orofacial movement disorders (bruxism) are treated typically by dental professionals and not by those specialists (neurologists) researching and treating the other movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, tremors, etc.). Again, this is more evidence of the complexity of TMD and the need for multidisciplinary research and treatment in TMD.

Cervical Muscle Tenderness in Temporomandibular Disorders and Its Associations with Diagnosis, Disease-Related Outcomes, and Comorbid Pain Conditions

To analyze cervical tenderness scores (CTS) in patients with various temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and in controls and to examine associations of CTS with demographic and clinical parameters.

You, Your Esophagus and TMD

The esophagus is a roughly ten-inch hollow tube that descends from your throat through the diaphragm into the stomach. Normally, it is a one-way street transporting food you swallow to the stomach for digestion. But in GERD— Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease— the flow can reverse so that stomach contents (including gastric acids) are regurgitated upwards to cause a burning sensation (heartburn), nausea, pain and other distressing symptoms.

It's Time to Be Part of the Solution

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Study on Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) is well underway. We strongly encourage everyone affected by TMD to write to the NAM committee letting them know what it is like to live with TMD and your experiences with getting care.

Introducing our TMD Nutrition Guide

  • Jun 1, 2017

The pain and jaw dysfunction associated with Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) can impact your ability to chew and swallow food. How and what you are able to eat can seriously compromise your nutritional and health status - an aspect of TMD that is often overlooked by both patients and health care providers.

The TMJ Association (TMJA) asked patients their opinion on this topic. Here are a few comments we received:

"...Eating fruits, veggies, and health foods tend to be very hard on my jaw; I can get a headache just from eating an apple or a few carrots.  I would much rather sit around and eat mashed potatoes and not hurt..."

"...There are days I am so hungry, but I know the price I will pay if I 'chew' the wrong foods..."

"...My daily food choices are very limited, due to the possibility of my jaw locking up while chewing crunchy or chewy foods..."

Based on patient feedback, we found that there is a definite need to address nutrition and TMD. To help us, we enlisted the expertise of:

  • Patti Cobb, RD, CD, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Dena McDowell, MS, RD, CD, Registered Dietitian, both with the Food and Nutritional Services at Froedtert Memorial Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a teaching institution affiliated with the Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Joel Epstein, DMD, MSD, Consulting Staff, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, Collaborative Member, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and staff at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences Center in Los Angeles, California
  • Janelle Botez, TMD patient who encouraged us to undertake this project and offered her insight as a patient on the booklet content
  • Maureen Donahue who volunteered her time and talents in creating the booklet layout and design

With their expertise, we developed, "TMD Nutrition and You," a nutritional guide booklet specifically developed for people with compromised oral function to help them maintain a healthy diet in spite of their oral disability. Click here to download a free copy of our booklet.

Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to The TMJ Association.  As a nonprofit organization, we rely upon your contributions to carry out projects like this to help improve the lives of those we serve - TMJ patients.  

©2016 The TMJ Association, Ltd. All rights

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