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 »

In today’s blog I am going to make a correlation with a bit of a stretch. I am going to put together the opinions and beliefs of several types of doctors and the research that correlates with those doctors. In other words, I am going out on a limb today. This blog actually started many years ago. I was at... read more »

The technique that I learned for doing regular braces has changed greatly over the years. When I first learned how to do braces, all that we did was to make the teeth straight, so they looked good. Then, I met Dr. Brendan Stack, and that changed completely. Dr. Stack explained to me that he noticed how well patients felt when... read more »

Recently, we have had a slew of people calling our office asking, “Can I have a TMJ / TMD problem with no pain?” They go on to explain they have nothing wrong with them except for a popping and clicking noise in the joints. Well, dear readers, the popping and clicking in those jaw joints are simply the early warning... read more »

In my little world of treating craniofacial pain disorders, it has been an interesting journey this year. For a month or so at the beginning of the Covid scare, people stayed away as they figured out the best path to take. Then, after only a month or so of being sequestered from the world, they came to see us in... read more »