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If you have ever suffered from headaches, TMJ pain, facial pain, intra-oral pain (such as recurrent mouth ulcers, a tooth requiring extraction, and impacted wisdom teeth), snoring, or obstructive sleep apnoea, or you have met or live with someone who does, you will know just how destructive and debilitating these conditions can be to our quality of life. And not just to the person with the condition, but also to those people around them. The complex array of symptoms and disability a person suffers often can lead them to feel that their condition is too difficult, frustrating, and elusive to treat. Often people may ‘give up’ or believe that no one understands or is listening.
The human body is a finely tuned dynamic and interactive machine and as such, its daily operations are reliant upon many of its other functions that may at first glance appear completely unrelated. By assessing not only a patients presenting symptoms, but also the multitude of contributors that can play important roles in pain experience, are we able to treat the person as a ‘whole’ rather than a ‘symptom’.
Factors such as sleep quality, stress, lifestyle, diet, self-management techniques, depression, medications, other diseases and illnesses, and many other important issues all need to be considered. In many cases working closely with other health personnel and specialists as a team in a multidisciplinary structure is paramount. Strangely, this is still a relatively new concept amongst many health professionals.
TMJ Disorders (TMD), Orofacial Pain, and Sleep Disorders are 3 conditions that are considered to be “Multifactorial”.
That is, each disorder has many factors that contribute to or can cause the onset of symptoms in a patient. One disorder can, and often does, occur simultaneously with one or both of the other disorders. Therefore, if any part of the TMD, Orofacial Pain, or Sleep Disorder is left untreated, a cycle of symptoms or a ‘Continuum’ occurs.
Oral Medicine and Oral Surgery are another two conditions that interact with and in many cases are included in this continuum and therefore cannot be excluded from true multidisciplinary treatment.
If a person is not assessed using this ‘Continuum’ philosophy and approach, they will unfortunately never reach ‘Maximum Medical Improvement’ as the cause of each disorder has not been fully addressed and treated.
Factors such as sleep quality, stress, lifestyle, diet, self-management techniques, depression, medications, and many other important issues all need to be considered. In many cases working closely with other health personnel and specialists as a team in a multidisciplinary structure is paramount. Strangely, this is still a relatively new concept amongst many health professionals.
We cannot promise that we can cure everybody, but by providing a comprehensive “Treatment Plan” rather than just a “Treatment”, our aim is to improve the quality of life in every person we treat.
Site © 2007-2008 Dr. Tony Eldridge B.D.S. Last modified August 4, 2008 .