The Board has remanded the cases due to conflicting evidence regarding the Veteran's TMJ and TBI diagnoses, as well as their relationship to service. A new examination is required for both conditions.
The deciding factor: The inconsistent medical records require further evaluation to determine the nature of any diagnosed conditions and their etiology.
- Claimed conditions
- Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), Residuals of traumatic brain injury
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 22, 2019
- Citation
- 19180131
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,913 · Granted: 30% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19180131.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The reduction in the rating for service-connected TMJ from 30 percent to 10 percent was improper, and the 30 percent rating is restored.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew her claim for an earlier effective date for the assigned 10 percent rating for service-connected TMJ, and this appeal is dismissed.
- Granted
The Board has granted a 70 percent rating for the Veteran's acquired psychiatric disorder and residuals of TBI, finding that his symptoms meet the criteria for such a rating due to occupational and social impairment with deficiencies in most areas.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided that the Veteran's TMJ may be related to his in-service bicycle accident, but a VA examination is needed to determine if this is the case.
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