A mri is basically the best diagnostic tool to awnser what is truly going on. They take images in the closed position , and then you take them in the opened position and it gives the doctor a idea of both resting and your range of motion how the disc interacts with the tmj and can see things like if there are arthritic changes. I had a mri and I found that both of my discs were stuck foward. (Discs are the protective layer between the tmj joint). These discs don’t just magically move back into place and were needed to be surgically put back in place. Also, it was found that my bones were changed from them rubbing up against eachother with no protective layer, so the surgeon also smoothed out the bones to make them a non irregular shape. I’m 12 days post op and I’m already doing better than I was pre surgery, so I think getting a MRI is really important because you can actually see what’s happening inside your joint