TELEHEALTH AND TMJ

TMJ disorders are especially well suited for telemedicine, because good cameras make it easy to assess your facial growth pattern and your bite, the two features which are central to the root cause of these disorders.  Understanding the cause of your problem will then help you seek appropriate treatment wherever you are. Our telemedicine TMJ services employ 20 minute modules through zoom or facetime for  diagnosis, prognosis, second opinion, and treatment recommendations as outlined below.  The cost is $100, and the module is set up in advance by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephoning the office 503-241-7353.

DIAGNOSIS - The most important treatment decision you need to make hinges on the origin of your symptoms.  If the origin is an inflamed TMJ, that TMJ needs mechanical protection to prevent its outgoing pain signals from continually triggering guarding behavior that keeps your jaw muscles tight, before you begin trying to treat those muscles.  If the origin is in the teeth or gums, they can tighten the jaw muscles like an inflamed TMJ.  If the origin is in the jaw muscles, the whole postural system is involved, because the mandible is an integral component of the head posture mechanism, and TMJ treatment needs to be integrated with postural treatment. Postural evaluations can be assisted by frontal and side views of your habitual upright stance (normal resting body posture) in front of some sort of vertical reference point like a doorway.

The health of the TMJs can sometimes be determined with a high degree of confidence by observing the slow opening and closing of your jaw while listening to accompanying joint sounds with your phone, together with a history of your joint sounds changing or locking.   MRI is much more valuable than X-ray for diagnosis, because it shows inflammation in the joint as well as the position and condition of the articular disk, the most important feature clinically.  

PROGNOSIS -  is an explanation of what is likely to occur in the future if you continue with your current treatment, change to a different treatment, or stop treatment.   The best way we can equip you with the information you need to help you make well informed decisions about how to deal with your problem is not by telling you what to do, but by telling you what is likely to happen if you do this or that or nothing at all, which in many cases would not be so bad, because TMJ disorders are self-limiting conditions.  

SECOND OPINIONS - in this field are often eye opening, because there is such variety in the treatments used by different practitioners, even for the same condition.  There are many different types of oral appliances, yet most dentists have one or two favorites which they make for all their TMJ disorder patients.  If you have an oral appliance, identifying it will enable us to determine the goal of your current treatment and its relevance for your condition.