"For years, I stayed within my circumspect orthodontic circles. Now I'm meeting people ffrom all the healing arts with whom I have common goals: searching for the etiology and allowing the body to heal itself by removing blockages and bad habits.
For me, it's mostly removing bad habits. I'm firstly concerned with resting tongue posture in the growing child. Since the tongue is the scaffold on which the maxilla and upper teeth take their support and guidance, having the tongue on the palate at rest is fundamental. So teaching oral posture and proper swallowing habits is the central strategy.
But I also have to look at what may keep the tongue away from the palate. Open mouth posture at rest and especially during sleep is an endemic problem. This may be secondary to upper airway distress, allergies, asthma, chronic hyperventilation (over breathing), swollen lymphoid tissue, environmental stressors (both physical, like in food, and toxic substances, and emotional stressors). There are also the postural issues of ascending and descending musculo-skeletal imbalances and habits that I'm sure you are all too familiar with.
So my program (still in the developing stages) takes a broader approach: it includes Oral Myology (for tongue posture and function), Arch Expansion, (to undo previous damage to jaw growth), Breathing Correction ( to slow down breathing and improve oxygenation of tissues), Postural Training (straight body:straight teeth) and Nutritional Coaching (to lessen the toxic and metabolic load, if possible). At least that is what I'm working toward.
And what I find is that if I start early enough, the teeth will improve before we even have to talk about braces.
I look forward to further conversation and to learn about your way of thinking,
Sincerely,
Barry
Barry Raphael DMD1425 Broad Street
Clifton, NJ 07013
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