Warning: TMD “Diagnostic Tools” Proven To Be Inaccurate

Does your doctor want to charge you to use EMG, Kinesiography, or Sonography to study or diagnose your TMJ disorder? You might want to get a second opinion.

A new study shows that many electronic diagnostic devices were no better than clinical exams at diagnosing TMJ disorder (TMD).

This research summary correlated by Dr. Charles S. Green D.D.S., clinical professor of orthodontics, UIC College of Dentistry, Chicago, IL., sums up the series of studies, by Manfredini and colleagues to evaluate clinical exams versus electronic diagnostic devices.

The electronic devices evaluated were:

• EMG. Which is a muscle activity recorder

• Kinesiography. Which analyzes jaw motion

• Sonography. Which records jaw joint sounds

Several studies were devised to challenge the conclusions, obtained by the advocates of these diagnostic instruments. All participants underwent a standard MRI studies to demonstrate disk displacement and inflammatory fluids in the joint space. Next the Kinesograpic device was used to record joint movement, this test concluded that the Kinesiography test was 50% accurate, which is not enough to base a diagnosis on. The EMG studies which record muscle movement found it difficult to see the difference between a TMJ disorder patient and a normal jaw joint movement.

All three devices were not shown to be accurate enough for diagnosis.  TMD patients should question practitioners who rely on these diagnostic tools to base their your diagnosis.

Read the full article by Dr. Green with links to the studies.

Www.tmj.org/site/pdf/mamfredini_GC.pdf