The Board has remanded the case due to the need for additional development, including obtaining relevant medical records and obtaining an opinion regarding the nature and etiology of the Veteran's TMJ dysfunction.
The deciding factor: The October 2019 VA Medical Opinion DBQ was inadequate as it did not address service connection on a secondary basis and was based on inaccurate factual premises.
- Claimed conditions
- TMJ dysfunction, chronic otitis externa
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 29, 2020
- Citation
- 20070221
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for chronic otitis externa, finding that the evidence does not support a causal relationship between the condition and the Veteran's active service.
- Partly granted
The Board granted a 10 percent rating for chronic otitis externa and remanded the claim for a rating in excess of 10 percent for left knee joint osteoarthritis.
- Denied
The Board denied an effective date earlier than August 29, 2022, for the award of service connection for TMJ dysfunction.
- Dismissed
The appeal was dismissed due to a finding of a duty to assist error related to the claim for service connection for depression, and the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss was denied.
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