Temporomandibular Dysfunction (TMD)
TMD is the most ignored joint in the human body. There is a dearth of understanding and treatment of patients with TMD, though the prevalence of TMD is between 20-30%. Often times, these patients go to the dentist seeking cure, whereas the dentist will be giving treatment towards correction of occlusion and giving less importance to joint mechanics and muscles.
To add further confusion, cervical disc pathology can cause jaw pain. In such cases, neck must be treated first. Myofascial trigger points in the jaw muscles can be a major pain generator in TMD. Sometimes, the joint disc will displace in order to cause painful click sound with jaw deviation. These symptoms must be corrected by mobilization and exercises. If not done this way and giving the treatment only aimed at the odontogenic (Dental) factors, patients may get worse.
So in order to bridge the gap we offer TMD management courses for dentists and physiotherapists in order to develop an interdisciplinary treatment paradigm. Dentist who attended our courses are so confident in addressing TMD patients in their clinic. Physiotherapists do get more referrals from dentist once they show results.
TMD is completely unexplored field in the pain management field and we are pioneers in offering courses in TMD Management.