Hi!
I wrote a response in the fibro article a week ago regarding a possible connection between dental problems and fibro. I wrote a monster comment but decided that I’d rather point to some interesting links instead and it ended up being yet another monster post wall of text from hell. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I’m curretly undergoing treatment with ALF:s and bracers in both jaws. I’ve battled brain fog, pain, tinnitus and more. I’d say I’m 70% better after one year of treatment and I have at least 6 months to go. I’m 31 years old and male.
In conjunction with my orthodontic treatment I’ve had two neurocranial restructuring treatments and been doing some so called “face pulling” and I just recieved “The crane” from my dentist. Looking at my face there’s been quite dramatic changes but still, I don’t care much about my apperance. My aim is getting 100% better. Remember that I’m only a patient and this is my point of view from the information I’ve gathered and my experiences. Please do your own due dilligence before doing anything that might mess you up.
My aim is to point people in the right direction. Not two faces are the same, so to speak, and treatment will depend on ones problems (as with everything). I highly recommend seeing a pro to get diagnosed. With pro I mean a FUNCTIONAL orthodontist with a good track record. In my country there is none that I’m aware of and I go to a dentist in a neighbouring country.
There is a commonly missed link between health problems and a misaligned bite/cranial distortions. There are quite a few categories of people and treatment/troubleshooting is depending on the persons history and problems. I myself am not certain that fixing the face is the answer to all problems. That’s why I’m taking the nutritional approach aswell. I like doing one thing at a time to get a chance to evaluate progress.
Traditional orthodontics are crap. I was lucky enough to avoid them but I’ve talked to a number of unlucky people who’ve been unfortunate enough to have had their faces destroyed by extraction and/or backward movement of the teeth and facial bones.
My advice would be to avoid anyone who only talks about straightening the teeth. This is secondary to leveling the bite and helping proper facial development.
To fix ones face, one has to consider the teeth as an extension of the skull. An unleveled bite plane due to cranial distortions will over time produce crooked teeth. Straightening the teeth won’t help the skull.
Some people have been in car accidents and have strict cranial problems. Like this fine gentleman:
http://www.cranialtherapies.org/
Some have problems because of previous orthodontic treatment (that’s right) like these guys:
http://jawpain-tmjtreatment.com/
Some are messed up because. Well. Because:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j4kTW17x7Yo
(Dr.Mike Mew – Melting faces)
And some people have tourettes:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TTl3pcyWfmE
(DR.Brendan Stack and his treatment of tourettes patients)
If one has a melted face or has undergone orthodontic treatment, there are quite a few things one can do to reverse the lengthening of the face (yeah, why the long face?). One has to consider the face and skull in a 3 D fashion.
*Expand the dental arches to get proper molar support (see dental distress syndrome http://www.biologicaldentalhealth.com/Data/Dental_Stress_TMJ_Malocclusion_Pain_Disease_Illness.pdf. With a functional appliance like advanced lightwire functionals/bioblock and/or SELF LITIGATING bracers like delta force or damon.
*Move the maxilla forward (The Crane, FaceMax etc.)
*Loosen up the soft tissue in the skull and get the bones more aligned with cranial therapies such as neurocranial restructuring (http://www.drdeanhowell.com/)
*Learn proper tongue posture and how to swallow correctly (check out orofacial myology.
I’m shot guning this by doing all of the above and am also getting ROLFED (All in, right?).
There is no guarantee that this will solve all of my problems (or yours) and you might even not need all of the above. I had a seriously messed up bite (overbite, deep and open). Hello brain fog and depression!
Some people prefere to self treat and to do it without supervision. I don’t and I can’t recommend it even though people seem to make good progress. I have faith in both my ortho and and in my NCR practitioner (who by the way has had an amazing journey, check out ncr-uk.com).
We’ll see where I’ll be at a year from here. As long as I can do sports, feel healthy and don’t have the darned spasms, subluxations and brain fog I’m content. So far it looks promising but I do have some major tweaks to do in my diet which is the reason I’m reading Matt’s and other likeminded peoples stuff.
Oh and also. Yes. Your face will change from the treatment. More prominent cheekbones,rounded face, more set eyes and so on and so forth. I don’t really care about my looks. I just want peace of mind.
I’m making good progress and if this fails then I’ll just have to tweak my approach or try something different. I will say this though. NCR has made huge shifts in my posture and the dental expansion has opened up my sinuses. I can now breathe through my nose. Also, the molar build ups i have made a HUGE difference. From not being able to walk fast, I was able to run to the buss after five days (this was huge to me).
Peace!
