after having ear and jaw pain and fever for 5 wks, I went to this doctor and he said I had tmj.he said specialists had just replaced the jaw hinges of his son's wife and it costs $125,000.I said that would be my very last resort choice.A friend later directed me to a book: Healing back pain by Dr. Sarno which had a small section on tmj.2 days after I read, understood, and believed the book,my tmj pain was gone,as well as years of back pain. Dr. sarno is head of orthopedics at new york university.This was ten years ago. This experience changed my perception of every thing human especially conventional medicine. THrough another such experience my girlfriend is now a 5 element acupuncture ist and eliminates tmj.