Moses Institute
The History of Moses Institute
Dr. Moses first visited Professors Dr. Ken-Ichiro Murakami and
Dr. Bruce Sanders in the Summer of 1984 at the Ceder Sinai Hospital,
Santa Monica, CA and observed Professor Dr. Ken-Ichiro Murakami who
had learned techniques from original pioneer, Prof. Dr. Masatoshi
Ohnishi, demonstrate TMJ arthroscopic procedures on a live patient
of Dr. Bruce Sanders. The following day he brought those techniques
to his hospital in San Diego, California.
Beginning of a Surgical Journey
Dr. Moses' early experience observing pioneering TMJ arthroscopic
techniques became the foundation for his subsequent work developing
and advancing arthroscopic approaches.
After working in the basement morgue of his Tri-City hospital spending
countless hours on cadaveric specimens, Dr. Moses began to work with
his patients. First, by doing diagnostic arthroscopy prior to opening
arthroplasty and eventually developing arthroscopic treatments alone.
He knew that most of the disease lived on the lateral third of the TMJ,
so he developed the endaural TMJ access approach and confirmed the
presence of Plica/Adhesive Fibrosis and lateral synovial diseases.
Treatment was directed at these issues with routine lysis/lavage done
by Murakami and Sanders but was also enhanced with the lateral eminence
release and capsular stretch procedure which was then studied for
success rates.
This led to the development of the Moses Release Elevator in the years
1985-86.
The 1986 TMJ Arthroscopy Symposia
Dr. Moses first met Professor Ohnishi in person in 1986 at the first
USA symposium on TMJ Arthroscopy held in Long Beach, California on
July 18-20, 1986 where Professor Ohnishi performed TMJ arthroscopy
with local anesthesia on a patient for the attending audience.
Then later, only a week later on July 25, 1986 they met again at the
First New York Symposium on TMJ Arthroscopy held in New York City at
the Waldorf Astoria Hotel which hosted these two arthroscopic pioneer-
legends: Professor Dr. Masatoshi Onishi, and world-renowned Orthopedic
Pioneer, Dr. Lanny L. Johnson.
Formation of a Professional Society
Following this memorable and historic meeting, a newly formed group,
the American Society of TMJ Arthroscopic Surgeons was started with
Dr. Joe McCain as the first president and Dr. Jeff Moses as the
Secretary.
Growth of TMJ Arthroscopy
The first 15 members of the Amer. Society of TMJ Arthroscopic surgeons
gained great traction with multiple publications and the advancement
of techniques throughout the USA over the next several years.
This number grew to 22 before most members merged their efforts into
membership with the American Society of Temporomandibular Surgeons
(ASTMJS).
Being comprised of open arthroplasty-oriented surgeons, ASTMJS was at
first skeptical of this minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery but
later this diagnostic and treatment method was embraced.
In the years to follow, some of their International Members formed
parallel Societies worldwide. (ESTMJS, JSTMJS, LASTMJS)
The First British TMJ Symposium — 1989
Dr. Moses was then invited in July of 1989 to the First British TMJ
Symposium where he was challenged to defend the procedure in a pro/con
debate presentation with Dr. Daniel Laskin who was editor of the JOMS
and withholding Moses' submitted arthroscopic articles.
He was also asked to operate on several patients using his Arthroscopic
procedures during the conference as a demonstration.
1984
Dr. Moses observes pioneering TMJ arthroscopic procedures and
begins bringing the techniques to San Diego.
1985–86
Development of the endaural TMJ access approach and the
Moses Release Elevator.
1986
Participation in landmark TMJ arthroscopy symposia and the
formation of the American Society of TMJ Arthroscopic Surgeons.
1989
Participation in the First British TMJ Symposium, including
debate and live surgical demonstrations.
Original TMJ Arthroscopy Training Videos