Another woman in California , desperate for relief, used a screwdriver to lengthen her jawbone daily, turning screws that protruded from her neck.
People are also reading… Dental care for TMJ can do patients more harm than good, and a few fall into a spiral of futile surgeries that may culminate in their jaw joints being replaced with metal hinges, according to medical and dental experts, patients, and their advocates speaking in interviews and video testimony submitted to the FDA.
In every interview, the patients said the TMJ pain worsened throughout their treatment and they regretted some, if not all, of the care they received. The American Dental Association, which represents about 160,000 dentists nationwide and establishes guidelines for the profession, declined an interview request. In a written statement, ADA President Linda Edgar said that TMJ disorders are “often managed rather than cured” and that it sees “great potential” in new efforts to research more treatment options.
Kyriacos Athanasiou, a biomedical engineering professor at the University of California-Irvine, said it was because TMJ disorders are more prevalent among women that they were historically dismissed as neither serious nor complex, slowing research into the cause and treatment. Patients have felt the effect too. In interviews, female patients said they felt patronized or trivialized by male health care providers at some point in their TMJ treatment, if not throughout. Some said they felt blamed for their own pain because they were viewed as too stressed and clenching their jaw too much.
Schmidt said her low point came in 2016. In an attempt to restore bone that had been cut away in prior surgeries, a surgeon implanted long screws into Schmidt’s jaw that protruded downward out of her neck. Schmidt said she was instructed to tighten those screws with a screwdriver daily for about 20 days, lengthening the corners of her jaw to restore the bone that had been lost. It didn’t work, Schmidt said, and she was left in more pain than ever.
Sean Mackey, a Stanford professor who co-led the team, said it found that patients were often steered toward costly treatments and “pathways of futility” instead of being taught to manage their pain through strategies and therapies with “good evidence.”
Wire Health-Wellness California Health Industry Dental Health Investigation Maine New York Women's Health Lee-National
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: CBSHealth - 🏆 480. / 51 Read more »
Source: ScienceDaily - 🏆 452. / 53 Read more »
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »
Source: AllSidesNow - 🏆 572. / 51 Read more »