You may have heard of the children's game Crocodile Dentist. But would you let an actual crocodile treat your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder? For most people the answer to that would be a resounding "no." But that could all change if an experimental treatment from Australia is successful.

With the warm days and late nights of summer finally over, many people are spending more time indoors. But for some, there are painful reminders of summer lingering in their bodies - reminders that may never go away. That’s because an estimated 30,000 people each year contract Lyme disease, most commonly in the summer months. Worse yet, they may not even know they have it for months, years or ever. Further complicating matters, Lyme disease symptoms are often so vague they mimic other illnesses, causing patients to be repeatedly misdiagnosed.

You already know that maintaining a healthy body weight is key to living a long, active life, and that losing weight can help prevent myriad illnesses, from diabetes to heart disease to cancer. But what you may not realize is that maintaining a healthy weight can also help ease the symptoms of another painful condition that affects millions of people each year: temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMJD.

According to the American Tinnitus Association, a staggering fifty million Americans experience the constant, noticeable, ringing or buzzing in their ears known as tinnitus. Tinnitus can range in severity from slightly annoying to bothersome, and for a small portion of the population, it can be unbearable. But while there are many potential causes for tinnitus, one such cause may surprise you: temporomandibular joint disorder or TMD. We spoke to Dr. Alexandra George of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about why TMD and tinnitus often go hand-in-hand and what you can do about it.TMD is a condition of the temporomandibular joint muscles of the jaw. It is estimated that this puzzling condition affects approximately 10 million people a year in America. There is no one cause for TMD nor is there one tried and true treatment. TMD can be caused by any number of things, such as genetics, accidental injury or improper bite. TMD can also cause a wide variety of symptoms, from jaw soreness and tightness to headaches, neck, sinus, and eye pain- and even tinnitus-based hearing loss, which scientists believe could be caused by the TMJ muscles throwing the nerves in the ears out of balance.