Most people remember the children’s song for teaching human skeletal bones that goes something like……..
The foot bone connected to the leg bone, The leg bone connected to the knee bone, The knee bone connected to the thigh bone, The thigh bone connected to …etc.
Yet… dentists have traditionally looked at the manbible as though it operates in isolation. Not much attention is paid to the posture of the neck or rest of the body.
In reality, the lower jaw and head works together as a ‘functioning unit’ when chewing and moving. There have been a number of studies, especially in Physical Therapy literature, about the connection between jaw/ bite relation and neck posture.
Poor neck posture has an important role in causation of headaches as well.
Neuro Muscular dentists understand this connection and recognize the need for correcting neck posture along with jaw alignment for stability. Hence the development of a new method for relaxing the neck muscles, discussed in an earlier post in this blog.
The case study here is that of a physician who had suffered with headaches and jaw pain for many years. Despite several therapy attempts including orthodontics twice, the problem was not solved. Once we determined the NM bite position with the optimal jaw and neck position, a fixed orthotic was placed on his lower teeth.
This is just 2 weeks later. See the change for yourself. The guest reports 90% improvement of the symptoms! It is easy to see why!
This image shows the “normal” alignment of the head. The ear hole (External Auditory Meatus) should line up perpendicularly above the shoulder.
This image is before and after orthotic on this guest. This improved jaw alignment is also conducive to improved Airway! Sleep Breathing Disorders, including Sleep Apnea is a huge problem. So correcting the jaw alignement often helps airway also.
How about the change in profile? Look at the lower third of the face. It looks more proportionate…and younger!
Correcting the jaw alignment has profound improving effects. Jaw bone connected to the head bone….head bone connected to the neck bone…neck bone connected to the back bone……