TMJ Surgery: A blogger’s thanks

Comments arrive daily from around the world relative to review of blogs and this site.  Thanks to all.  I wish I had the time to respond to individual emails with questions.  I can not but wanted to write and respond generically to a couple of questions that keep coming up with frequency.

The question has been posed concerning this site being used as a reference.  I do not have a problem with that, but do not be academically lazy.  The original concepts that I have presented are concerned with impingement syndrome of the jaw joint as well as differential diagnosis between patients who may require surgery and those who may be able to continue with non-surgical treatment for a while….both based on coronal MRI examination and data generation.  These concepts are fundamentally supported by biomechanical/physical concepts and mathmatical concepts presented in the 2006 paper co published with my son Ben. (See bibliographies in this site under my publications section.  By the way, Ben is a true rocket scientist..PhD in aerospace engineering, and works at NASA and teaches at U of Texas in Austin…so he has been able to add some real scientific/mathmatical/engineering brain power to some of these concepts).

The point is this.  If you want to be credible, cite the literature, not a web site…unless what you are citing from the web site is referenced multiple times…or a concept is cited by competent peer reviewed literature and published.  That way you remain academically credible.  Don’t get lazy with your research if you are a student and working in this area.  Thanks.

Other ideas I get from other bloggers is the areas of interest.  Clearly, many people are interested in joint injury, particularly flexion/extension  (whiplash) potential injury of the jaw joint.  I have much more to say about this topic…and will blog another essay soon.  Suffice it to say, based on real research in the field, and the understanding of mathmatical concepts of acceleration of a body (head and neck) at rest via collision with another moving object (automobile with mass momentum)…there is a calculable minimal rate of speed that can be calculated to cause enough acceleration of the head, neck,jaw (20 -25mph) that can cause significant acceleration of these structures to cause the mouth (TMJ) to violently translate open to cause calculated damage to the joint based on experimental data which has shown the amount of energy require to cause ligament damage to the disc/capsule during the flexion/extension time frame.  It may require its own document like connection….as it would be too long and tedious to construct as a blog….anyway, that will be in the works.  These mechanisms have been worked out pretty well in the neck…the auto industry has done some good research in the area…insurers try to refute it….but the evidence and incidence of patients who have had such an incident start their “TMJ” problem can be substantial.  The University of Pennsylvania is doing some very interesting research in this area…real biomechanical engineers finally studying the problem….so hopefully someday soon there will be real and accepted science to support a concept that has been ignored for far too long.

Other ideas for blogs:

1. Chronic ear infections as a cause of joint disease in children. Another cause for problems that can effect the joint adversely….and become impacting during or after the skeletal growth years in human growth and development.

2. Insurance/funding tips for managing the maze of “TMJ disorders”.

3.  Integrating complex dental restoration needs and patients with true orthopedic disorder of the jaw joint.

4. The upcoming world conference on TMJ surgery and origin of derangements…Rome, Italy, April, 2011…sponsored by the European Society of Temporomandibular Joint Surgeons…Chairmen Dr. Piero Cascone (Rome) and Dr. Gerhard Undt (Vienna) ESTMJS and Dr. Louis Mercuri (Chicago),Dr. Peter Quinn (Philadelphia) and Dr. Vincent DiFabio (Frederick, Maryland).  Dr. Kirk will speak at this meeting as well.
5. Jaw fractures and other jaw injuries as a cause of orthopedic disease/dysfunction of the jaw joint.

Dr. W. Kirk, Jr.
Charlotte