APO’s 11th General Meeting on “Different Treatment Options for TMD Patients”

By Dr. Stevie Keh

Just like our biennial congress last August, it was again a rainy Wednesday morning when APO held its 11th General Meeting at The Rockwell Club in Makati City last Oct. 3. Fortunately this time, no ‘habagat’ nor massive floods hindered the members from trooping to our usual venue to listen to this seminar’s very interesting topics with the theme “Different Treatment Options for TMD Patients”.

With the jam-packed activities lined up for the day, the program started quite on time with no major glitches. The lectures were preceded by the Induction ceremonies of the PBO. The new Life Members of the PBO were presented, namely: Dr. Juanito Castaneda, Dr. Renato Africa, Dr. Linda Galang, and Dr. Gloria Punzalan.

Then a very heart-warming valedictory address given by the outgoing Chair., Dr. Bobby Eustaquio, after which the medallion was transferred to the new PBO Chair., Dr. Sandra Adriano.

At the same time, 3 new PBO Diplomates were also inducted as new members: Dr. Teresa Goduco, Dr. Annie Kopio and Dr. Rachel Yang-Lim.
This was followed by the induction of the new PBO officers by PRC Board of Dentistry Head, Honorable Steve Mark Gan. The following were inducted as the new PBO officers: 1.  Dr. Sandra Adriano – Chairperson, 2.  Dr. Angela Centeno- Vice Chair, 3. Dr. Marievic Reyes- Secretary, 4.  Dr. Marianne Hernandez- Treasurer, 5.Dr. Dennis Lim -Auditor.

Dr. Roberto ‘Obet’ Tan then delivered his final speech before he bade goodbye as APO President and welcomed the new set of officers led by President-elect Laarni Serraon.

We then started the ball rolling with the first lecture for the day, Dr. Ricardo Boncan discussing ‘An Overview of TMD and the Pharmacologic Approach to Management.’  Dr. Boncan presented a brief history of his current treatment approach, followed by the different drugs used to relieve symptoms related to TMD, together with their advantages and disadvantages.

Next in line was an in-depth discussion of the splint therapy in managing TMD by Dr. Jonathan Fandialan. He thoroughly discussed how a stabilization splint works by relaxing the muscles surrounding the temporomandibular joint. 

Finally, Dr. Cynthia Quismundo delivered her lecture on ‘Orthodontics as a Treatment Option for TMD.’ She related to us some tools used in the diagnosis of TMD, range of movements of a deranged TMJ, the use of the MEAW technique and many more.  She took the opportunity to invite everyone to an echo seminar that the MEAW Study Club will be holding on Nov. 7 to share their knowledge from the recent MEAW International Congress in Japan.

The meeting ended with the awarding of plaques for the speakers.   

Hope to see you all in the final activity of APO for this year, our annual Christmas tradition.