Patients who suffer from frequent jaw or facial pain may face numerous diagnostic challenges. They may attend multiple healthcare professionals with their complaint. Sometimes the diagnosis can be made easily, as in cases of obvious ear infection, sinusitis or dental abscess.

Other conditions, however, can be considerably more difficult to diagnose and manage. One such condition is a TMJ disorder as it falls at the interface between medicine and dentistry. It is common for patients to complain of what they perceive to be an earache, headache, sinus infection or indeed toothache, only to be told that their examination is normal. In this scenario a TMJ related complaint must be ruled out. However it is important to appreciate that numerous other conditions may masquerade as a toothache. Examples may include nerve related conditions (trigeminal neuralgia), headache conditions (migraine / cluster headache), and muscle related conditions.