No Teeth. Still a TMJ Problem.

An 88-year-old edentulous patient was referred to me for a new denture.

But the first thing I noticed had little to do with the denture.

She had severe unilateral TMJ pain.

TMJ palpation reproduced her familiar pain.

Loading reproduced it again.

The denture itself was relatively stable.

Yet the vertical dimension appeared excessive.

Now the case became interesting.

What would you do first?
A new denture?
Adjust the existing denture?
Treat the TMJ first?
Stop the denture temporarily?

There was another complication.

The patient was 88, medically complex, dependent on the denture for chewing — and had a pacemaker.

So some of the treatment options I would normally consider were no longer appropriate.

And the option that could have provided useful diagnostic information?

She couldn’t realistically tolerate it.

This became less about:

“Which denture should I make?”
and more about:

“What needs to be addressed before I make the next denture?”
The eventual sequence involved conservative pain management, reassessment of the prosthetic relationship, a controlled change in VDO and three months of observation before definitive denture fabrication.

But there is a much bigger lesson here:

A denture patient can have a TMJ problem.

And sometimes, the denture referral is only the beginning of the diagnostic story.

What would YOU have done first?
I’ve documented the examination, clinical reasoning, treatment constraints, PBM approach, VDO change and 3-month follow-up in the complete case:

👉 Read the full case:
https://drprostho.com/tmj-pain-from-dentures/

Would you have changed the denture first — or treated the painful jaw system first?

#TMJ #OrofacialPain #TMD #Prosthodontics #CompleteDentures #DenturePain #ClinicalDentistry