Why TMD Patients Fall Through the Cracks with Dr. Suzie Bergman | Down Fracture Podcast

<p>In this episode, Dr. Bobek and Dr. Wasson are joined by Dr. Suzie Bergman, DDS, FTMJF, a general dentist in Vancouver, Washington, Adjunct Associate Professor at Pacific Northwest University School of Dental Medicine, Fellow of the TMJ Foundation, and Visiting Research Scholar in Neurological Surgery at OHSU. Dr. Bergman is also a TMD patient: a jaw injury at 19 led to two open joint procedures and, eventually, bilateral custom total joint replacement. She joins the podcast the week after speaking at the TMD IMPACT meeting, an initiative of the NIDCR and the TMJ Association.</p><p><br></p><p>This podcast is produced for oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists, and other clinicians. The hosts discuss clinical reasoning that depends on training and experience, applied to specific scenarios, and nothing here is a treatment recommendation. The discussion assumes a clinical background and is not a substitute for an individual evaluation with your own surgeon.</p><p><br></p><p>Topics covered in this episode:</p><p><br></p><p>- Dr. Bergman&#39;s own history: 35 years from injury to bilateral joint replacement, and what she would do differently</p><p>- Who should be the quarterback for TMD care, and why primary care and ENT do not want the job</p><p>- Whether general dentists are the practical answer or the wrong pathway entirely </p><p>- Dr. Wasson&#39;s proposed model: surgeon, physician assistant, and physical therapist, and why Dr. Bergman calls it an oversimplification</p><p>- Splints: an average of four to five per patient, and what the evidence supports</p><p>- Why the TMJ is the only joint not managed by orthopedics, and how dental billing shapes care</p><p>- Orofacial pain: 14 programs nationally and a geographic desert in the middle of the country</p><p>- Arthrocentesis for acute closed lock and the cost of delaying referral</p><p>- Physical therapy with TMD-trained PTs, and the harm from untrained ones</p><p>- The &quot;money joint,&quot; profitable dogma, and whether colleagues are too polite to say so</p><p>- Total joint replacement outcomes today vs the proplast era, and what most dentists still believe</p><p>- TMJ Connect and Dr. Bergman&#39;s map of surgeons, orofacial pain specialists, and physical therapists</p><p><br></p><p>Find Dr. Bergman on Instagram at @drsuzberg.</p><p><br></p><p>📬 Questions or topic suggestions: downfracturedpodcast@gmail.com</p><p><br></p><p>*The Down Fracture Podcast is for informational and entertainment purp