To be honest, no one knows everything there is to know about dystonia- what causes it, how to diagnose it, how to treat it. There is so much speculation that we could go on for hours discussing all the various issues. However, there is one thing that I can say I have observed for sure. In almost every case- that’s... read more »

- Over the years I have made perhaps a few thousand ALF appliances for my patients and still get this question almost every day: What is an ALF and what does it really do? Let’s start off with what ‘ALF’stands for: Advanced Lightwire Functional. I suppose it really is still considered an ‘advancement’ because so few people have heard of... read more »

- Due to popular demand, and believe me, people are asking a lot these days, I would like to explain what turbos are all about. When we do braces at our office, we put little plastic lifters – from here on we will call them turbos- on top of a few teeth to determine the height we want the teeth... read more »

- So in today’s blog, dear readers, I will present to you a fairly simple rule of physics: No two objects can occupy the same place at the same time. It’s pretty simple, admittedly. But now let’s get into the example that I have in mind for you. As you all know, I do complicated orthodontics in my practice every... read more »

In an interesting twist of terms, a study done out West called the TuCASA study – the Tucson Children’s Assessment of Sleep Apnea- it was discovered that there is a negative relation between AHI and immediate recall. What this means in English is that a high apnea index correlates to poor recall in children, i.e. they do not remember what... read more »

Did you know that there is a very large nerve that innervates much of the skull? It is called the trigeminal nerve and it looks kind of like this: As you can readily see, this is one HUGE nerve and it covers a lot of surface area in your skull. It also just so happens that this nerve goes right... read more »

Recently, I wrote a little blog about how perhaps, just maybe, we should take the time to analyze WHY a patient requires a biteguard/nightguard device. Last week I went to the office of a friend of mine and I mentioned how I am seeing so many new patients these days who tried the biteguard and it did not work too... read more »

Almost every day I point out to a patient that they have a calcified stylohyoid ligament going from behind their ear to the hyoid bone in their neck. Check out this xray: In my practice I see such a bony formation every day of the week. Maybe this is because my practice sees so many patients who have neck, back,... read more »

In my little world of TMJ disorders I have been acutely aware of the negative effects of wearing upper (maxillary) nightguards for many years now. Years ago, my osteopath doctors explained that the upper hard acrylic devices will actually slow the pumping effect of the blood and CSF in the brain. This, of course, is potentially quite harmful to the... read more »

It seems like almost every day I meet a new patient who wears a device called a ‘nightguard’. There are so many issues with this ‘nightguard’ thing so let me just get right to it. First of all, in almost all patients who clench or grind their teeth the articular discs in the jaw joints are out of place. The... read more »