D7874 — Arthroscopy: disc repositioning and stabilization (TMJ)
D7874 repositions the joint disc and stabilises it arthroscopically.
This code belongs to a set of 22 covering temporomandibular joint treatment. The clinical detail lives in the temporomandibular joint treatment guide; the code-level detail is here.
What follows is the detail behind the number: the conditions the code sets, its typical fee, its usual benefit treatment, and a code-by-code comparison with its closest neighbours.
D7874 compared with its closest relatives
D7873 — Arthroscopy: lavage and lysis of adhesions (TMJ): It washes the joint out and frees adhesions under arthroscopic vision.
D7875 — Arthroscopy: synovectomy (TMJ): It is the same procedure specified for synovectomy rather than for disc repositioning and stabilization.
D7872 — Arthroscopy — diagnosis, with or without biopsy (TMJ): It puts a camera into the joint to see, and if necessary biopsy, what is happening inside it.
D7876 — Arthroscopy: discectomy (TMJ): It is the same procedure specified for discectomy rather than for disc repositioning and stabilization.
D7874 sits in a group of 22 codes in total; the remainder are linked at the foot of this page. The descriptions differ by a few words and the fees differ by a great deal, which is why mixing them up is one of the commonest billing errors in dentistry. Ask which of these codes is being submitted and why.
Every code in this group
These codes describe the same broad procedure and differ in one respect each. Each has its own page with its own fee range and coverage notes.
Questions about D7874
What procedure is D7874?
Read literally, D7874 means arthroscopy: disc repositioning and stabilization, TMJ — and payers do read it literally.
Is D7874 expensive?
Most private fees fall in $2,000–$8,000. Geography accounts for more of that spread than anything clinical.
Is D7874 a covered benefit?
Typically, yes — medical / dental — often excluded benefits, 0–50%. What varies between plans is the frequency limit rather than whether the procedure is covered at all.
What is the difference between D7874 and D7873?
D7873 is arthroscopy: lavage and lysis of adhesions, TMJ: it washes the joint out and frees adhesions under arthroscopic vision. Because they describe different work, D7874 and D7873 can legitimately appear on the same treatment plan — they are not alternatives to choose between.
Also known as: TMJ, TMD, jaw joint pain, arthrocentesis, jaw clicking, occlusal orthotic.