Dr. Yongsik Kim
   

Why does temporomandibular joint disease occur?
The cause of temporomandibular joint disease, which is usually explained to my patients, can be divided into three ones. The first cause is that any causes are unknown. This is the biggest cause.  We consider this as temporary stress. 
Too much stress strains jaw muscle, which causes pain. The second cause is injury. Muscles and ligament surrounding the temporomandibular joint are injured by external shocks, for example, shouting or yawing. The third one is false occlusion or continuous injury by habit of clenching teeth or supporting chin in hands. These three factors may be separate or combined.
   

Could you tell me about jaw related diseases? 
Particularly if jaw movement does not stop during sleeping, it is often difficult to treat after it occurs. This causes false occlusion or facial asymmetry. The major symptoms of temporomandibular joint include pain in jaw, constriction maxillorum (mouth does not open), and jaw sound (temporomandibular joint sound).
    

How do you treat temporomandibular joint disease if it occurs? 
In the treatment of temporomandibular joint disease, symptoms are different depending on the cause. The initial jaw muscle disease can be treated with physical therapy or drug treatment only, but the general temporomandibular joint disease should be treated in combination with equipment treatment. Equipment treatment requires more time because it is intended to make the temporomandibular joint stable. Treatment was performed with surgery in the past, but quite recently non-surgical therapy is used rather than surgery if necessary. False occlusion can be prevented from its recurrence through correction after temporomandibular joint treatment. If necessary, dental prosthesis treatment is used for more precise bite.
   

What should people do if they miss the time to treat temporomandibular joint disease?
Basically, you might have severe headache or facial asymmetry. If there occurs a problem in one side of the jaw, your jaw might be twisted to one side. It causes facial imbalance or imbalance in bite and ultimately stress. In severe cases, you have to receive plastic surgery at the temporomandibular joint department. After temporomandibular joint treatment, orthognathic surgery should be followed to keep balance with the location of jaw.
    

Are there any preventive means to do at home to prevent temporomandibular joint disease? 
Prevention starts with correcting your bad habit. The major cause of temporomandibular joint disease is a wrong habit. So you have to try to break your bad habits, for example, supporting chin in hands, chewing into one side, and lying face down. If there is any problem in jaw, you should continue to do temporomandibular joint movement to ease your strain in jaw.
    

Please tell me about your future hospital strategy and goals. 
There are not enough temporomandibular joint-specialized hospitals yet, both internally and externally. Our goal is to establish an image as the best temporomandibular joint-specialized dental clinic in the world as well as in Korea. To achieve this, we will continue to contribute to restless research and development.