Another year... has anything changed?

All the best to you,
Realperson

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Realperson
    Nov 15 2003, 7:48 pm
Newsgroups: sci.med.dentistry, alt.support.jaw-disorders
From: Wehavebar...@hotmail.com (Realperson)
Date: 15 Nov 2003 16:48:57 -0800
Local: Sat, Nov 15 2003 7:48 pm
Subject: TMJ AWARENESS MONTH - NOVEMBER (Repost of Repost)

I'm reposting this for a friend of mine. It's been a long time...

All the best to you,
Realperson

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From: Judy (j...@baynet.net)
Subject: TMJ AWARENESS MONTH - NOVEMBER (Repost)
Newsgroups: sci.med.dentistry
Date: 1998/11/02

I posted this last year and I feel it fitting that it be reposted this
year.

Take care
Judy  :)
******************************************************
TMJ AWARENESS MONTH - NOVEMBER

Author: Judy
Email:  j...@baynet.net
Date:   1997/11/15
Forums: sci.med.dentistry, alt.support.jaw-disorders

Hello to all!

On this special day in mid November, I feel it is fitting to let you
all
know that it is Jaw Joints--"TMJ AWARENESS MONTH"!

Maybe this will be the month that there will be a new "understanding"
between the TMJ patients and the Dental Professionalists in this forum.

Maybe if we can find the understanding here we can bring it out to the
"real" world for all to benefit!

So Happy TMJ AWARENESS MONTH to you all!!

Take care
Judy   :)

                         TMJ AWARENESS MONTH
                                ______

                          HON. BARNEY FRANK

                           of massachusetts

                   in the house of representatives

                     Tuesday, September 30, 1997

 Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call to my
colleagues' attention the designation of this coming November and all
future Novembers as Jaw Joints--TMJ Awareness Month. In Washington's
world of abbreviations and acronyms, TMJ is not one of the better
known.
Temporomandibular Joint Disorders are among the more painful, yet least
well understood disorders affecting people today. While estimates of
the
number of

[[Page E1900]]

people in this country affected by TMJ disorders run into the millions,
these disorders are often mistaken for other ailments or presumed to be
psychological in nature.
 In light of the difficulties that exist in diagnosing and treating
TMJ
disorders it is clearly very appropriate to establish an awareness
month, and I applaud the Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal Disorders
Foundation for helping organize this effort. The foundation, which is
based in Boston, was created and is presided over by two extremely
dedicated Massachusetts residents named Renee and Milton Glass. They
have been an excellent source of information to me over the years about
TMJ and related matters, and, although this November is officially TMJ
Awareness Month, it is also in many ways a tribute to their dedication
and hard work in the cause of helping those who suffer from this
disorder.
 As part of that work, Renee and Milton Glass and their colleagues are
going to be involved in two important TMJ-related events in Washington
in November. On November 20 and 21, the National Institutes of Health
will be holding a workshop entitled ``New Directions in Pain
Research,'' which will include some discussion of TMJ. On November 22,
the TMJ Association's annual meeting, with participation by the
foundation, will take place at the NIH. Both events will no doubt make
valuable contributions to the goals of TMJ Awareness Month.
 Mr. Speaker, because I share the Glass' belief in the importance of
making the public more aware of the effects of Temporomandibular Joint
Disorders, I ask that the attached material describing TMJ in more
detail, as well as the foundation's mission statement, be entered into
the Record.

                   Jaw Joints--TMJ Awareness Month

      Temporomandibular Joint Disorders, commonly referred to as
    ``TMJ,'' afflict millions of Americans, both children and
    adults of both sexes and all races.
      ``TMJ'' is a painful and disabling disorder that emanates
    from the Jaw Joints and can affect the health of the entire
    neuro-musculo-skeletal system often spreading pain and
    dysfunction throughout the body.
      The Jaw Joints are the most special and complex joints in
    the entire anatomy. While similar to other joints--cushioned
    by cartilage, held together by ligaments, and moved by
    muscles activated by nerves--they differ in their structure
    which allows them to perform more functions than the other
    joints in the body allowing the mandible [lower jaw] to
    function in a five-way movement, i.e., from side-to-side,
    forward-and-backward, up-and-down, and to ``open wide.''
      Due to their location, the Jaw Joints are the pathway for
    motor and sensory activities to and from the brain to the
    rest of the body. Disorders to the Jaw Joints, therefore, can
    upset the delicate balance of the neuro-musculo-skeletal
    systems. Some of the diverse symptoms of this multi-faceted
    TMJ disorder include inability to open or close the mouth
    freely, difficulty in chewing and swallowing, headache, eye
    pain, ringing and pain in the ears, leg cramps, fatigue, and
    pain to the muscles throughout the entire body. Many of the
    symptoms mimic or overlap with many other disorders, thereby
    creating the popular designation for TMJ as ``The Great
    Imposter,'' and its sufferers as ``Prisoners of Pain.''
      While they are orthopedic joints like all other joints in
    the body, care for the Jaw Joints and disorders to them
    ``falls between the cracks'' of medicine and dentistry, but
    is largely directed into a dental and psychosomatic realm
    despite the myriad of symptoms usually treated by physicians
    and other non-dental health providers. TMJ has not yet been
    established as a ``legitimate'' medical disorder, thereby
    denying millions of Americans their fair entitlements to
    health insurance and other benefits, as well as their dignity
    and deprives them of decent quality of life. TMJ patients,
    therefore, are further penalized by being physically,
    emotionally, and financially broken.
      The nation's pioneer TMJ patient advocacy organization,
    established in 1982, the Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal
    Disorders Foundation, Inc. [JJAMD] is headquartered in
    Boston, Massachusetts. Among its many goals and missions is
    the broader recognition of the importance of healthy Jaw
    Joints to good oral and general health. It plans to establish
    in-school programs to teach children, their teachers and
    parents, the importance and function of the Jaw Joints, as
    well as safety and prevention of injury to the Jaw Joints in
    sports, play, and daily activities. JJAMD advocates for
    recognition by the Medical Profession and their Societies,
    Center for Disease Control [CDC,] the National Institutes of
    Health [NIH], the Arthritis Foundation, and all others
    concerning the need to include the Jaw Joints along with all
    other joints for inclusion in their programs, appropriate
    comprehensive research and reporting in the medical and
    dental literature. JJAMD also encourages the Dental
    Profession to work with the Medical Profession and to
    establish a requisite TMJ Speciality training within their
    professional schools.
      JJAMD advocates for the creation of medical models and
    medical protocols for the necessary appropriate health
    insurance coverage for TMJ patients. This will help to end
    the discrimination against millions of Americans who suffer
    with this disorder with disastrous results--including the
    thousands who have had silicone joint implants which have
    failed. To this end, JJAMD has sponsored independent
    research, holds free public lectures, encourages support/
    self-help groups and has organized and conducted professional
    lectures and national seminars. JJAMD has received the
    support of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in
    many of its activities and has become allied with another
    leading patient advocacy organization. The TMJ Association,
    Ltd., in efforts to support all TMJ suffers around the
    country.
      The ultimate aim of these actions is to alleviate the
    untold preventable human suffering of to those afflicted with
    TMJ as well as the needless high costs of health care
    associated therewith. By designating November of each years
    as ``Jaw Joints-TMJ Awareness Month'' awareness can be
    increased among all Americans, and in particular those in a
    position to help treat, insure, provide appropriate research
    ultimately to prevent this scourge in our nation.

   Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-skeletal Disorders Foundation, Inc.

                              WHO WE ARE

      The Jaw Joints & Allied Musculo-Skeletal Disorders
    Foundation, Inc. [JJAMD] is a 501(c)(3) non-profit national
    educational, research, and advocacy organization. It works in
    promoting awareness, prevention, research, and knowledge of
    the Jaw Joints to whole body health. The disorder to the
    TemporoMandibular Joints [i.e., in layperson's term Jaw
    Joints], is mostly known as ``TMJ Disorders.'' TMJ is one of
    the most pervasive, least understood, and controversial
    health disorders in existence today. TMJ is now acknowledged
    as a component in other disorders, and is also called by a
    variety of other names and acronyms, adding to the
    controversy.

                           vision statement

      JJAMD expresses its vision through the use of an axiom that
    ``Life Revolves Around the Jaw Joints in Every Motor and
    Sensory activity 24 hours a day, awake or asleep.'' JJAMD
    believes that the disorder to these TemporoMandibular
    Joints--known primarily as ``TMJ Disorder''--is largely
    preventable through a responsible and high quality program of
    public awareness and education.

                          MISSION STATEMENT

      The specific mission of JJAMD, is to network with TMJ
    patients, the general public, health providers and their
    affiliations and societies, governmental agencies, insurers,
    and through liaison with the Massachusetts Department of
    Public Health, in order to:
      Foster appropriate comprehensive public awareness,
    knowledge, education, research, and information concerning
    the TemporoMandibular Joints [the Jaw Joints]--how they are
    structured, their function, and their relationship to the
    whole body for general good health.
      Promote prevention of disorders and diseases to the Jaw
    Joints and advocate for appropriate comprehensive perception,
    medical/dental classification, diagnoses, and treatments for
    TMJ Disorder.
      Foster self-help-support groups through a National TMJ
    Alliance. Exchange information with other organizations who
    deal with disorders containing a TMJ component or
    relationship.
      Encourage the Medical and Dental professions to work
    together in a multidisciplinary team effort to create a
    medical model, protocols for appropriate research, diagnoses,
    treatments, and responsible health insurance coverage.
      Enlist the Medical/Dental School educators, and emergency
    medical staff, to include within their curricula the routine
    teaching of the TemporoMandibular Joints [TMJ] and the
    disorders and diseases to them.
                       ____________________

[Congressional Record: October 2, 1997 (Extensions)]
[Page E1899-E1900]

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