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Are Crowns a Good Treatment Plan for TMJ Disorder?

I’ve been wearing a splint for TMJ Disorder and it has been helping. The symptoms have eased a bit when I wear them. Now my dentist is suggesting that he crown several of my back teeth. He says that it could completely alleviate my TMJ symptoms. Is this a normal treatment for TMJ? It sounds a bit over the top for me. There’s nothing physically wrong with those teeth. No decay or infections.

Amanda

Dear Amanda.

Diagram of skull side-view with the TMJ area detailed and an enlarged view of the joint, ligament, disk, and condyle

 

Yes, while it may sound extreme. it is a very legitimate way to treat TMJ Disorder. Your teeth don’t have to have decay or have an infection in order to throw off your temporomandibular joint, which is the one that leads to TMJ problems. Having crowns placed correctly, can reposition your bite properly so that you no longer have TMJ pain. In some cases, when a bite is off severely, a dentist will actually crown all of the teeth. This is known as a full-mouth reconstruction.

While it is a legitimate treatment, you have to be careful who does it. There is not a recognized specialty in treating TMJ. Yet, in order to do it correctly, a dentist will need significant post-doctoral training in order to treat it properly. While it sounds like your dentist has some experience with treating TMJ based on the splint, I would still double check the training.

You’d want someone who has training from one of these institutions for post-doctoral training:

  • Spear Education in Scottsdale, Arizona
  • The Pankey Institute in Key Biscayne, Florida
  • The Dawson Academy, with headquarters in Florida but training centers in various states
  • The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies in Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Piper Education and Research Center in Tampa, Florida

If they have training from one of these institutions, you will be in good hands.

This blog is brought to you by an understanding dentist in Moline, Dr. Thomas Goebel.

 

I Think My Implant Dentist Scammed Me

I went to a dentist because of some jaw pain and he said I needed a full-mouth reconstruction. So, I poured a ton of money into fixing my mouth. He extracted many of my teeth and give me implants with crowns and then just crowns on the others. After just a few weeks, the crowns started falling off and I have either stubs or nothing but screws to chew with. I’m in extraordinary pain. The office keeps taking a message and then I don’t hear from the dentist, so finally, in frustration, I just drive up there. They were closing shop. Apparently, he has skipped the country. His staff said that they think he is in Egypt, but aren’t positive. I don’t know what to do.

Avery

Dear Avery,

An image of both titanium and zirconia dental implants

I am so sorry that this happened to you. It sounds to me like you were dealing with a scammer. I wonder if he even had a dental license. There are horror stories about dentists who lose their license, yet still practice. Though, normally, they practice outside of the U.S.

Additionally, I’m afraid he took you for a ride twice. A full-mouth reconstruction is usually only done for the most severe TMJ Disorder, or for patients who grind their teeth down to nubs. There are several, less invasive procedures to try before doing something so drastic. Even when it is needed, your teeth aren’t extracted to do it. The dentist will just place a crown on every tooth.

If he did skip the country and is in Egypt, you may be out of luck. However, as his staff wasn’t sure, you could report him to the dental board and see if they have any idea where he is. This would certainly be something you could file a malpractice suit over if he is still in the country.

Other than that, all you can do is have this fixed. This is certainly going in the dental implant horror story file. When you do go to get this fixed. Make sure you check the dentist’s credentials, including their implant success rate which should be about 95%. Also check with review sites like Google and Yelp!, as well as the Better Business Bureau to make sure there aren’t any complaints against them.

Again, I am sorry this happened to you. Unlike the dentist who did your “treatment”, most dentists are in their chosen field because they want to help people.

This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.