The American Society of TMJ Surgeons (ASTMJS) was officially formed in 1986. Dr. Clyde Wilkes and eleven Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) colleagues decided to form a professional group dedicated to TMJ and specifically, surgical management of TMJ disorders. They set up a meeting in Key West, Florida in the summer of 1986, and the participants unanimously agreed to form a new professional organization. Dr. Donald Chase created the logo . Although the members views were initially quite divergent in their viewpoints regarding the functioning of the society, they soon began to see some commonalities towards the cause and purpose.
The original “Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Disorders Involving the Temporomandibular Joint and Relate Musculoskeletal Structures†was first written and published by Drs. Bruce Sanders, David Hall and Ralph Merrill during Hall’s tenure as President. In 1991, Dr Roger Meyer who had served first as a member, then as Chairman of the Guidelines Committee updated the Guidelines and then made revisions periodically. The Guidelines were published in Northwest Dentistry 71:21-27 (Sept.-Oct.), 1992 (authors: Roger A. Meyer, Kurt P. Schellhas, H. David Hall, Thomas Indresano, and Clyde H. Wilkes).
The ASTMJS currently has 45 active members; six associate members; two affiliate members; thirty international members; and twenty-four emeritus members.
Resident Program
An OMS Resident Program developed by Dr. Louis Mercuri was initiated in 2008. The program was designed to encourage the next generation of surgeons to practice the full scope of the specialty, including the judicious and evidence-based application of TMJ surgery.
Biomet Microfixation® (Zimmer Biomet) generously provided a $5000 grant each year to award four winning residents from among those who submitted abstracts in this competition. The award included a scholarship aimed to cover the registration, travel and lodging costs related to attending the annual meeting.
Forty-two residents have participated in this program and four of them have become ASTMJS members.
ASTMJS/ESTMJS Joint Meetings
Joint meetings between the two societies began in 2010, and have been held every three years since. The first meeting was held in 2010 in Rome, Italy, and hosted by Dr. Piero Cascone, ESTMJS President. The American Society of TMJ Surgeons with Dr. Greg Ness as President, hosted the next meeting in 2014 in Chicago, IL. This interdisciplinary meeting was an “open†meeting which was also attended by non-ASTMJS members. The 2017 Joint meeting was held in Lille, France, hosted by President Dr. Joel Ferri. The 2020 Joint Meeting scheduled for April in Washington, DC was cancelled due to the covid pandemic. The 2024 Joint Meeting will be held in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida with Dr. Joli Chou as the ASTMJS President.
Founding Members
| Clyde Wilkes | MD, DDS, PhD |
| Ralph Merrill | DDS, MScD |
| Sid Bronstein | DDS, MD |
| Russell Bessette | DDS, MD |
| David Hall | DMD, MD |
| Kenneth Rotskoff | DDS, MD |
| Bruce Sanders | DDS |
| Doran Ryan | DDS, MS |
| Mark Piper | DMD, MD |
| William McCarty | DDS |
| Carroll Silver | MD |
| Donald Chase | DDS |
Members admitted in 1987
| Albert Carlotti | DMD | active membership |
| Jeffery Carter | DMD, MD | active |
| Mehrdad Motamed | DDS | active |
| Jonathan Jacobs | DMD, MD | active |
| Roger Meyer | DDS, MD | active |
| James Nickerson | DDS | active |
| Raymond Reid | DMD | active |
| Paul Walters | DMD | active |
| Joseph McCain | DMD | active |
| J. Michael McCoy | DDS, MSD | affiliate |
| Kurt Schellhas | MD | affiliate |
| Wei-Liu Qui | DDS, PhD | international |
| Lars Erickson | DDS | international |
| Ken-Ichiro Murakami | DDS, PhD | international |