Patent ID: 11957479
Assignee: nan
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A method of evaluation of a patient suspected of having temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and treatment of TMD, the method comprising:
palpating condyles in ear canals of the patient during jaw movement, wherein an evaluator faces the patient and places fingers of the evaluator in the ear canals of the patient with thumbs of the evaluator facing upwards and pads of the fingers of the evaluator positioned facing towards a face of the patient;
evaluating a hip level of the patient while the patient is in a standing position and while the back teeth of the patient are closed completely;
inserting a first spacer between front teeth of the patient;
re-palpating condyles in the ear canals of the patient during jaw movements with the first spacer in place;
with the first spacer between the front teeth of the patient, raising and lowering the patient by movement of the patient standing on toes and dropping to heels;
after the patient has stopped movement, reevaluating the hip level of the patient to determine if the hip level of the patient has leveled, whereby leveled hip level of the patient correlates with positive descending TMD; and
treating the positive descending TMD of the patient using at least one dental orthotic shell positioned over teeth of the patient.