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Statement by NIDCR Acting Director on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Report on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

I am pleased to announce the release of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report, Temporomandibular Disorders: Priorities for Research and Care. As underscored by the comprehensive report, temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJDs) are a diverse and still poorly understood set of complex, painful conditions affecting the jaw muscles and tissues, temporomandibular joints, and associated nerves. Clearly, there is much more to be understood, and these conditions continue to confound medical and dental health care providers and researchers.

New Report on Temporomandibular Disorders: Priorities for Research and Care

With support from the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine appointed a committee to address the current state of knowledge regarding TMD research, education and training, safety and efficacy of clinical treatments, and associated burden and costs.

Have you seen the film Dark Waters?

The Film. Dark Waters is about attorney Robert Billott's real-life 20 year legal battle against DuPont chemical for releasing toxic waste - perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA - into Parkersburg, West Virginia's water supply, with devastating health effects on the townspeople and livestock. PFOA, also known as C8, is a man-made chemical. It is used in the process of making Teflon and similar chemicals known as fluorotelomers.

Online TMD Diet Diary Research Project

Online TMD Diet Diary Research Project The TMJ Association received the following request from Professor Justin Durham and his research team at Newcastle University. We encourage TMJ patients to participate in this project as it is an under researched

Drug Induced Bruxism

The authors of this article state that orofacial movement disorders (bruxism) are treated typically by dental professionals and not by those specialists (neurologists) researching and treating the other movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, tremors, etc.). Again, this is more evidence of the complexity of TMD and the need for multidisciplinary research and treatment in TMD.

TMJA SCIENCE MEETINGS

  • Nov 29, 2017

The TMJ Association has held the following prestigious scientific meetings in Bethesda, Maryland. Speaker abstracts, meeting agendas, as well as issues of the TMJ Science, a science journal, which contains the summary and recommendations of our scientific meetings are listed below.

First Scientific Meeting - Moving Temporomandibular Joint Research into the 21st Century

Second Scientific Meeting - Joint and Muscle Dysfunction of the Temporomandibular Joint

Third Scientific Meeting - Advancing Diagnostic Approaches for TMJ Diseases and Disorders

Fourth Scientific Meeting - A Systems Approach to the Understanding of TMJ as a Complex Disease

Fifth Scientific Meeting - Can Studies of Comorbidities with TMJDs Reveal Common Mechanisms of Disease?

Sixth Scientific Meeting - Comorbid Chronic Pain Conditions - Mechanisms, Diagnosis and Treatments

Seventh Scientific Meeting - Genetic and Epigenetic Basis of Temporomandibular Disorders and Related Chronic Overlapping Conditions

Eighth Scientific Meeting - How Can Precision Medicine Be Applied to Temporomandibular Disorders and its Comorbidities?

To receive a hard copy of TMJ Science, please indicate the journal(s) you'd like to receive and send your request to info@tmj.org.

Comments from the Scientific Meetings

Over the course of these Scientific Meetings, we have received many positive comments from the members of the medical community who have attended. To gain more insight in what happens at these gatherings, read on:

"Thanks for the fantastic meeting. I have been going to TMD and pain meetings for over 20 years and this was one of the best that I have ever attended. The idea of bringing together all the experts and patient advocates for all the comorbidities was a great idea. We all need to get together and find those common purposes. The meeting truly reflected what I see as a clinician and what the vast majority of our patients report. Thanks for all your hard work. It is obvious that you are accomplishing things that could not be done without your efforts! There are a lot of providers and patients who will benefit from what you are doing."

~Morris A. Branch, D.D.S., M.S., Bethesda, MD

"I wanted to congratulate you on superb conference (5th Science Meeting)! Definitely one of the best interdisciplinary gatherings I can remember! I hope that an NIH Road Map Initiative will come out of this."

~Emeran A. Mayer, MD, Director, Center for Neurobiology of Stress - Division of Digestive Diseases, University of California, Los Angeles

"The TMJ Association has once again distinguished itself by sponsoring it's fourth scientific meeting...the Association is to be congratulated for its innovation and creativity..."

~Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research