Something Dramatically and Significantly Is Missing in Dentistry

The fact that there are over 37000+ members on various TMD forum groups indicates that no matter how many new technologies, ideas, methods, therapies, exercises or appliances that are promoted there still is something dramatically and significantly missing and many TMD folks all know it.

Many TMD problems exists because dentists failed to understand something in their diagnosis (or lack of diagnosis), they failed on so many different levels even though they are good at doing promoting so many ideas and ways. But they are not short on coming up with excuses when things don’t work… electro-diagnostic technologies to 3D scans and imaging that helps everyone visualize this and that body part, yet the dental profession as a whole can’t seem to get the bite and occlusion right (the application and implementation of the treatment) after all these years even with the simple splint. It has to make one wonder?

The technology industry (all great) can come up with all kinds of things for dentists to ooh and ah at, buy and promote to their patients, but the industry can’t seem to help dentists be more comprehensive (I don’t mean more comprehensive in cutting more teeth) in helping them understand what homeostasis is. How to establish neutrality to abnormal forces that we all know creates the havoc to the masticatory system. But instead they have not helped educate and or train dentists in becoming precise operators based on a homeostatic model of health. Rather the industry has influence the dentist toward a consumer mentality to sale more things, different and the newest dental services. They treat cases yet overlook the need to get the masticatory system to homeostasis (an underlying factor that would establish body heatlh and neutrality) diminishing the abnormal forces in the body.

If our profession and industry would understand that,,,they would have so much more dentistry to do, beyond their expectations, patients would get healthier, more prevention, more conservation, but will require more dental skills, mainly dental educational awareness. But getting the TMD patient to move toward neutral…rather than throwing band aid treatments at the problem one after another, day after day, year after year.

Dentists are easily influenced by their environments and peers….what ever the newest in-thing is, the newest in-idea, latest teaching, news discovered concept, new terminologies, etc….. for this year….next year it repeats again with new terms…that is how the masses of dentist shift in their thinking….they never learned to apply what they all ready learned in a more accurate homeostatic manner. That is what they should have learned in dental school, but didn’t!

They don’t even understand what it means to establish homeostasis for their patients. They vicariously look for things to do on their patients that is “wrong” and offer some method of treatment, but have no perspective of ultimately getting the patient healthy. Most dentistry is based on redoing things, remaking, rebuilding, reconstructing, “rejuvenating”, but have no specific goals or objective documentable parameters of establishing healthy. They only fix what they see as failing or breaking down. They only treat the teeth, maybe joints…and if they happen to learn ortho, they will make teeth straight with what ever ortho system conveniences their dental practice model.

If it is broken they fix it to that existing habitual position. If the joint is hurting, just inject it to remove the temporary hurt, but don’t deal with the underlying cause, etc…. Most dentist have no parameters or guidelines to establish healthy jaw relationships for optimal comfortable function and stability. They do what ever looks right. If the patient complains…they refer the case out to the next specialist…whoever that maybe. The TMD cycle continues…the cycle of dentistry… very little new IS under the sun!

That is all.