Approximately 70 percent of adults have at least one sign of a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, but only 25 percent report symptoms and only about 5 percent seek medical intervention.
Conservative therapy is effective in over 80 percent of cases.
Surgical intervention is usually required in fewer than 5 percent of patients with TMJ disorders.
Five pairs of muscles and the temporomandibular joints that connect the upper and lower jaws allow you to open and close your mouth and control the forward, backward, and side-to-side movements of the lower jaw.
TMJ Disorder is the second most commonly occurring musculoskeletal condition resulting in pain and disability (after chronic low back pain).
For those with TMD, it takes an average of four years from syptom onset to diagnosis.
Human jaw muscles can generate a force of 200 pounds (and you wonder why your jaw hurts after a day of clenching?).
I’m sorry for the language but holy shit.
FOUR YEARS between onset and diagnosis?
I lucked out: my pain started in May of this year, and it only took three doctors’ visits in as many months before I … encountered an internet comment describing TMJ and realized “oh wow that sounds like me.” From there it was back to the doctor — only to be told I need a dentist. 🙁
I can’t even imagine. Wow.