We are grateful for the appreciative interest in our article and are happy to clarify further.
We have not discussed when treatment would be timely for TMJ symptoms developing after whiplash trauma or which treatment modality is preferable. The results are not to be understood to suggest that preventive treatment is needed for every patient who has been exposed to whiplash trauma. Nor do the results point to the need for one specific type of treatment in each patient. An individual diagnosis must be made.
As accounted for in our article, joint pain was commonly associated with symptoms of reducing or nonreducing disk displacement, such as painful clicking or aggravation from clicking to painful locking.
We believe that patients should be informed that TMJ symptoms may develop with delay and, hence, be advised that should this happen, a practitioner ought to be contacted for diagnosis to allow for timely treatment. The treatment modality chosen is to be based on the specific diagnosis.
Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed on both subjects and control subjects at the inceptive examination. The imaging results have been accounted for in a previous article.1 Our August JADA study focused on the long-term development of subjective symptoms. A study comparing the inceptive MR imaging status with the progression, maintenance or regression of joint symptoms is in preparation.
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