The first ever Recommendations for Diagnosing TMD have been published with support from NIH. Despite a prevalence rate of 2:1 women to men, there was no mention of the sex differences for TMD in the abstract, NIH press release or accompanying editorial. This continues to frustrate the women’s health research community who are actively advocating for more sex based research. This latest announcement indicates we must continue to be vigilant and work with funders and journals to ensure that sex differences become part of the research equation. Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) occur as a result of problems with the jaw, jaw joint and surrounding facial muscles that control chewing and moving the jaw. These disorders are often incorrectly called TMJ, which stands for temporomandibular joint.
Source: Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative.