Oh no my TMJ discs are off...

...yeah and so are most other people's.

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Some folks have been to a TMJ specialist and were told you that their "discs are off" or displaced. Maybe they were shown some fancy MRI images pointing to areas where things don't look quite right.

And they think that they are up shit’s creek or something.

Whereas my reaction when they ask my view is typically something like… “join the club.” I bet 90%+ of the people doing Reviv right now have disc issues to some extent and probably 75%+ of them do not even know about it.

Because it typically doesn’t get diagnosed. However ChatGPT estimates that up to 35% of Americans most likely have some type of TMJ disc displacement.

Which to me even still sounds low.

Because once you understand how these biomechanics work… you understand that pretty much everyone who doesn’t have pretty close to the ideal skull and body proportions most likely has some kind of disc issues.

Now let me wind it back a bit.

About the TMJ discs

So what exactly are these TMJ discs that everyone talks about?

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is basically a ball-and-socket joint, much like your shoulder. But unlike your shoulder, it has a small disc of cartilage that sits between the ball (condyle of your jaw) and the socket (temporal bone of your skull).

This disc is supposed to act like a cushion and help the joint move smoothly when you open and close your mouth, chew, talk, etc. Think of it like a shock absorber in your car - it's there to make everything run smoothly and prevent bone-on-bone contact.

In a healthy joint, this disc stays properly positioned between the bones and moves in coordination with your jaw movements. When you open your mouth, the disc should glide forward along with the condyle, and when you close your mouth, it should glide back into position.

The disc is held in place by ligaments and surrounded by synovial fluid, which lubricates the joint. It's a pretty elegant system when it's working correctly.

What are the different issues with the TMJ discs?

There are several ways these discs can get screwed up.

Disc displacement is probably the most common issue. This is when the disc slides out of its normal position, usually forward (anterior displacement).

Sometimes the disc can reduce back into place when you open wide (disc displacement with reduction), which might cause that clicking or popping sound you hear. Other times, the disc gets stuck out of position (disc displacement without reduction), which can limit how wide you can open your mouth.

Degenerative joint disease is another common problem. This is basically arthritis of the TMJ, where the disc and joint surfaces start to break down over time.

The disc can become perforated, thinned out, or completely deteriorated. Once this happens, you get bone-on-bone contact, which is about as pleasant as it sounds.

You might also hear about disc adhesion, where the disc gets stuck to either the upper or lower joint surface, or disc perforation, where the disc actually develops holes in it.

The symptoms of these disc problems can include clicking, popping, grinding sounds, jaw locking, limited mouth opening, pain when chewing, and general jaw discomfort.

How do dentists usually treat them?

Most TMJ specialists have a pretty standard playbook for diagnosing and treating disc problems.

For diagnosis, they'll usually start with a clinical exam - checking your jaw movement, listening for sounds, palpating the joint area. Then they might order imaging like an MRI to actually see the disc position and condition, or a CT scan to look at the bone structures.

Once they've diagnosed a disc problem, the treatment approaches typically include:

Conservative treatment like soft diet, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, and physical therapy. They might give you a splint or night guard to "protect" the joint.

Arthrocentesis - this is where they stick needles into the joint space and flush it out with saline solution. Kind of like giving your joint a bath.

Arthroscopy - more invasive, where they actually put a tiny camera into the joint space to look around and potentially do some minor repairs.

Open joint surgery - this is where they actually open up the joint and try to reposition the disc, remove scar tissue, or in severe cases, completely replace the joint.

The problem is that none of these approaches have particularly good success rates. Sure, some people get some temporary relief, but I've seen way too many folks who've gone through multiple treatments and surgeries only to end up worse than when they started.

Image there was a big jaw in the middle of this balloon.. what would happen to it right now?

I view things a bit different

I don't think disc displacement is actually the root problem at all. Rather, I think it's collateral damage of a much bigger issue.

You see, I view the TMJ disc problems as being directly caused by the biomechanical collapse process that I talk about throughout my other articles. When the soft tissue covering the skull "deflates" the jaw will get twisted out of position.

Physics dictates that it absolutely must happen.

The jaw is connected to the rest of the skull only via soft tissue at the TMJ joint. It’s the weak link that is going to probably go first as the skull ‘deflates’ and then the cranial bones will also derange.

So the jaw will get twisted out of position in three different planes and the disc will be impacted. It would be impossible for it not to be. Again, just physics.

I believe there is only one true fix

So if disc displacement is really just a symptom of skull collapse, then what's the real solution?

Simple. You need to inflate the skull back to its correct dimensions and allow the jaw to return to its proper anatomical position.

It’s like asking “how do I get the horn on the unicorn’s head to stand up straight again?”

It is very obvious that that is only going to happen when you inflate the whole thing.

If it was still deflated and you instead did what these dentists did and started jabbing it with needles and started cutting it up.. it is quite obvious that you are not going to fix it. You are just going to make a mess!

However when you use the simple biomechanics I talk about here… everything will start to heal over time and revert to their correct positions.

Am i saying that it is going to be easy? No.

If you had some permanent damage to the structures (eg. a perforation) am I saying it is all going to perfectly heal? Also probably no.

But i AM saying that this is going to be the best that you can do out of all of your options. And that I’ve seen time and again how the body is able to heal itself beautifully when aided with the correct biomechanics.

The clicking stops, the locking resolves, the pain goes away. Because you're addressing the actual root cause rather than cutting stuff up and making a mess.

Am i pulling this out of my ass? No… numerous people doing Reviv right now have written to me and achieved assorted variations of this.

I literally think I can consider that I have a better success rate against TMJ disc issues than any dentist I’ve seen out there. Because their invasive techniques will result in a bigger mess pretty much each and everytime.

Closing thoughts

This rather rude guy on Reddit recently challenged me by asking how is Reviv going to fix “severe degenerative arthritis with displaced discs that are both perforated along with idiopathic condular resorption?”

And he was probably expecting me to react with… “oh noooo not that!! I didn’t know such severe disc issues could happen…”

But of course that is not how i’m going to react. LOL

Rather i’m going to visualize this guy with a deflated skull that has pulled his jaw out of place. Then dentists probably spent the last ten years cutting and poking needles into it. Making an absolute mess and charging him many thousands of dollars in the process.

While using complex names like “idiopathic condular resorption” to make excuses for the fact that their treatments were doing nothing helpful.

When all he needed to do was inflate the damn skull and let the jaw’s structures start to heal on their own.

So it’s your choice… spend years hopping dentists and doctors cutting things up and poking needles into your joint as that guy has done. Or do as thousands of Reviv-ers are doing and wear a simple, cheap mouthguard to sleep LOL.

Because your discs aren't really "off" - your whole skull is off. Fix the skull, and the discs will take care of themselves.