Temporomandibular joint multidisciplinary team clinic

Patients with dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) commonly present to oral and maxillofacial departments and are increasingly being managed by a subspecialist group of surgeons. We review the outcomes of patients attending a specialist TMJ multidisciplinary team (MDT) clinic. All patients are simultaneously reviewed by a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon, consultant in oral medicine, specialist physiotherapist, and maxillofacial prosthetist, and they can also see a consultant liaison psychiatrist. They are referred from primary, secondary, and tertiary care when medical and surgical treatment in the routine TMJ clinic has failed, and are triaged by the attending maxillofacial surgeon. On discharge they are returned to the care of the referring practitioner. We review the outcomes of patients attending this clinic over a 2-year period and show improvements in pain scores and maximal incisal opening, as well as quality of life outcome measures. All units in the UK with an interest in the management of diseases of the TMJ should consider establishing this type of clinic and should use available resources and expertise to maximise outcomes.