One power of social networking is to help people by sharing your knowledge, experience, and advice. On Facebook, Twitter,and Linked in, etc...it is not unusual for some one to complain or ask questions about a symptom. For instance, recently my own sister was having a problem with her tooth. She was unaware that it was a tooth problem. She then posted it on Facebook and her concerns. I was able to recognize that it sounded to me liked cracked tooth syndrome. I advised her to see her dentist in Colorado. Another friend told me about how one of his Facebook friends went in for an inconclusive MRI because of persistent headaches. The friend’s doctor has suggested it as a diagnostic measure because the headaches had been unexplainable.
My friend posted on their wall the question: “Do you also have jaw pain or grinding teeth at night?” My friend was wondering if the cause of her headaches may have been Teeth/muscle related (neuromuscular), a TMJ joint disorder. They knew about it from knowing a dentist who helps with these conditions… me.
This is why I think it is important to reach out to everyone I know and remind them of some important points. They are:
1) TMJ is hard to diagnose, especially for general practitioners. It is easy to prescribe pain pills for pain with diagnosis or order expensive testing which, as in this case, was inconclusive.
2) TMJ is a jaw joint disorder and pain is common in that area, but symptoms can range from migraine headaches, to shoulder pain, to back pain and more. If a head, neck or upper back pain cannot be identified, it very well might be linked to TMJ.
3) Neuromuscular dentists treat TMJ non-invasively.
4) Ask a friend who is showing symptoms to consider a visit me for an TMJ consultation. Worst case, we rule it out!
So, I encourage you to listen to what your friends are saying on social media and know the symptoms of TMJ, or other signs and symptoms they cannot figure out. If you see someone suffering and frustrated because their doctors can’t figure it out or they are struggling with unnecessary pain medications, please refer them to me. At the very least, we can rule out TMJ for them or other tooth, joint, or bite problems.
