Since my last update, I need to speak plainly now... and for some, this won’t be comfortable to read.

I know my last update carried a more hopeful tone, particularly around potential research pathways and NIHR-related conversations. At the time, I genuinely believed that something might finally be shifting. For the first time in a long while, it felt like the door might be opening.

Unfortunately, over the past few weeks, that optimism has quietly but steadily evaporated.

Despite repeated attempts, I’ve been unable to make any meaningful progress with the academic contact I reached out to at Newcastle University. I don’t say this with bitterness or malice. People are, of course, busy. Institutions are slow. Many operate within rigid, outdated frameworks that limit how far they are willing – or allowed – to go. But the reality has become impossible to ignore: there is no real appetite there to engage with the deeper, structural issues surrounding TMJD either.

And this is not an isolated experience.

This same pattern has repeated itself consistently since 2023.

One moment, in particular, crystallised this for me. I explicitly raised concerns about the relationship between orthodontics, occlusion, facial structure, and broader musculoskeletal posture – issues that countless patients intuitively recognise in their own bodies, yet which remain largely absent from formal discussion. That point was not debated, challenged, or even acknowledged.

It was simply ignored.

You can draw your own conclusions from that.

At this stage, I feel like I owe honesty not just to supporters of this petition, but to myself: I am officially at a loss as to where to go next.

For more than two years, I have contacted academics, institutions, organisations, journalists, campaigners, and healthcare professionals – persistently, respectfully, and in good faith – trying to push this issue beyond surface-level reassurances and conservative talking points. Almost every avenue has led to the same dead end: polite acknowledgement, vague interest, and then silence. No follow-up. No willingness to go deeper. No courage to question the foundations of current practice.

It has become painfully clear that TMJD is only taken seriously when it reaches a catastrophic stage – and even then, the response is usually invasive, reactive, and focused on managing damage rather than preventing it. By the time the system intervenes, the harm is already done. The irony is stark: earlier intervention would be cheaper, safer, and far more humane, yet it is systematically avoided.

Why?

Because prevention demands accountability.

To be brutally honest, I have reached an uncomfortable conclusion: many people operating in this space function more as gatekeepers than investigators. Their role is to maintain the boundaries of what is “acceptable” to question... not to cross them. That doesn’t necessarily make them villains. But it does make meaningful change extraordinarily difficult.

Let me be clear: I am not accusing every professional of bad faith. There are many decent, conscientious clinicians who genuinely want to help and are unaware of just how fractured the wider system is. But there are also those who are indifferent, defensive, or financially invested in maintaining the status quo. Pretending that this doesn’t exist helps no one.

For these reasons, I have made the decision to step back from active outreach for the foreseeable future.

Not because I don’t care... but because I have given more than I realistically have to give. Pushing alone against silence, inertia, and institutional resistance has taken a significant toll on my health and wellbeing. And as the saying goes: you can’t pour from an empty cup. I’ve done my part... more than my part.

BUT...

Before I step back, I want to be absolutely clear about one thing: this petition is NOT going anywhere. It will remain live on Change.org, and you are more than welcome – encouraged, even – to copy the link, share it, reference it, and use it in whatever way you choose. If this issue is going to move forward, it will not be because one person kept shouting into the void, but because many voices refused to be quiet.

I may return to this fight more directly in the future – hopefully under better circumstances, with more support and a clearer path. Who knows. But what I DO know is this: I am NOT giving up on my own journey, my health OR my right to answers – and neither should YOU. Stepping back is not surrender... it is survival, regrouping, and choosing where to place what energy remains.

If this petition is to go further, it will require others to step forward. It will require people who are willing to challenge the status quo rather than quietly protect it. It will require journalists who investigate rather than repackage press releases, clinicians who question dogma rather than defend it, and professionals who are prepared to say “this isn’t good enough” even when it’s uncomfortable.

So to anyone reading this: if you know someone who can genuinely do something about this, reach out to them. If you are a healthcare professional reading this... don’t just nod along. SPEAK UP! Ask WHY so many patients are left in limbo for years. Ask WHY prevention is treated as optional. Ask WHO benefits from silence.

I have made it possible for legitimate media or professional enquiries to contact me through this platform. Beyond that, I am stepping back for now.

I sincerely hope others will have more success than I have so far... and I hope this issue is taken seriously before the damage becomes irreversible.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this petition so far, shared their experiences, and refused to accept “this is just how it is” as an answer. Please keep signing, keep sharing, and above all... keep pushing for better 🙏