How Much Does TMJ Surgery Cost

Temporomandibular joint, goes by the acronym TMJ. This is a condition where the joint that is located in front of your ear. What it does, is it holds the lower jawbone, to the upper bone, or what we call as the upper bone. It allows the motions of your jaws to help facilitate eating, making facial expression and eating. This makes the TMJ the most essential part of the body that are complex. However there are people who may have some kind of disorder when it comes to their TMJ, and with this, they would usually ask to find out how much does TMJ surgery cost.

TMJ Disorder, Signs and Symptoms

A TMJ Disorder, happens when there are jaw joints that do not sit properly with each other. There will come a time that a person suffering from this disorder will feel fatigued from the stress coming from their nerves. Not only that, people suffering from TMJ disorder tend to feel the discomfort from the parts of their bodies that includes their face, mouth, shoulders, ears and back. Some people who suffer from TMJ disorder, experience tingling sensations, on their toes and on their fingers. Disorders like these happened when the TM joints stops to function properly due to being dislocated. Thus they will need some treatment with regards to that and it will have to incur TMJ treatment cost.

According to the website Docshop, some signs and symptoms of TMJ disorder are the following:

• Pain in the ears
• Joint pain in the jaw
• Pain on the face
• Pain in the ears
• Headache
• Tingling sensation on the extremities
• Shoulder, neck and back pain including the tooth
• Arthritis amongst others…

And because TMJ surgery cost so expensive, some patients would resort to acupuncture where some of TMJ affected patients would testify to the relief that comes from pressing needles on themselves. These acupuncture usually cost around $50 – $70 dollars per session, and because of this, some of them will have to need to worry about the.

Getting Help Before The Surgery

A patient in need of a TMJ surgery will need to find out first what his options for payment are. The ones who are covered by insurance, will just normally copay on their insurance for an out-of-pocket cost of around 10% – 50% percent of the overall charge for the surgery.  For the most part, some health insurance and dental plans does not allow covering of the TMJ treatment. Thus it was the patient himself who will have to pay for his own TMJ treatment cost. The sad part is even if the HMO’s would exclude this treatment from their plans, while for others, they are given a lot of requirements that will need certain approvals. For the cash paying patients however, some doctors and hospital will allow a discount of up to 30%for the cost of TMJ splint and treatment.

To those who are still needing further information may visit the National Institute of Health as you will have to see a primary consultant or physician first or an EENT doctor. It’s important that you do, because what good does it do to know how much does TMJ surgery cost when after the surgery you are not satisfied of the results? As a patient, you should also make sure and be cautious regarding your decision to have any surgery done to the part of your body that alters the bite, because it was once said that the treatment for TMJ disorder is quite controversial. Some studies claim that TMJ treatment disorder has so little scientific evidence which makes it dangerous even fatal. This is why not all Insurance coverage would want to have this kind of treatment covered. Not even for the cost for TMJ splint.

Had the patient purse surgery, a doctor can recommend, medications that are over the counter, in order to ease the pain, after surgery. These medications may have relaxant. Also the doctor may have to recommend a splint, to which will add up to the patients expenses should he agree if he can’t help it, to pay the cost for TMJ splint. However, the National Institute of Health said that according to their studies, the TMJ symptoms, will just simply go away even if the treatment a patient choose is but conservative. That must be where the acupuncture therapy came from for a TMJ disorder. 

Now, The Cost of TMJ Surgery

After knowing how much does TMJ surgery cost and going through the surgery, there will need to have some pain reliever afterwards which may cost about $10 – $12 dollars for a month supply of tricyclic antidepressant. Doctors will prescribe this to relieve you of chronic pain. Cold therapy wraps may be needed, and you can get them from the drugstore for a price of $6 – $60 dollars. The physical therapist may charge you around $50 – $250 per session to help you heal faster and well, and for the cost of TMJ splint for stabilization of the area, could be around $1800 – $2000 as reported from other patients who have already gone through the same surgery.

Besides the TMJ treatment cost an arthroscopy may be needed to help detect some underlying problems and remove scarring that could contribute to further TMJ pain, and damaged tissue. For the arthroscopy, the cost is around $7000. One patient was able to report his total expenses for a joint replacement of $38000, while another was able to spend $67000 dollars.

Patients who are not covered by Insurance, their TMJ treatment cost could cost them less than $500 dollars. But those expenses are only for cold therapy, rest and pain relievers. There will also needs be some physical therapy involved that may cost around $50 – $300 dollars on a per session basis. However the cost for TMJ splint may reach up to $2000 dollars, some splints are more expensive than others that they range not less than $5000 up to $7000 or more than that. Arthroscopy is said to be around $40000 – $70000 dollars for a total replacement of the joint.