TMJ Help Program

A landmark study at the University at Buffalo on the causes of facial and jaw pain is in the final stages of recruiting participants.

The last time you visited your dentist, perhaps he did a test for TMD — a disorder involving the joints and muscles in the jaw. It can be extremely painful. But dental researchers don’t know much about what causes the disorder. In 2006, the School of Dental Medicine at UB received $3.3 million for the first large-scale study of risk factors.

Associate Professor Richard Ohrbach, who is heading up the study, says he and his colleagues have recruited 700 people for their study. They need another 140 by the end of October.

For now, Ohrbach says they’re primarily looking for people who do not have TMD symptoms. He says they’ll be tracked for the next three to five years to determine who and how many develop the disorder.

Once that information is in hand, Ohrbach says researchers will be better able to treat — and event prevent — the disorder. He says 60 to 70 percent of the population will display some sign of TMD in their lifetimes. But just one in ten have serious enough symptoms to require treatment.

People interested in participating in the UB study should call the Dental School hotline at 829-2984.