Question:
The, most-important aspect that Dr. Steven presented here in his writing, has
as-yet, not been acknowledged for its significance.
Coming from me, I am sure you can guess, that this involves the dental occlusion
connections, IOW, the dental occlusion common denominator as observed, which
should-be addressed here.
Please think about this dental occlusion related aspect, when reading Dr.
Steven’s writing below, related to his, then and now realization.
Answer:
**I found similar results with "conventional" splints. Improvement in
40-50% of the cases, and wondering what the "deal was" the other times.
Many patients never got any releif and some got worse on the flat plane
splints.
**I think what is changing, is our (us, the dentists) understanding of the
problem. Thanks to very long and detailed discussions and debates on this
forum, I see the TMD problem very differently now. The more you understand
a problem, the better equiped you are to discover it. I used to dread TMD
patients. The only reason I did refer most to a so-called TMJ Specialist
was that I knew he would charge the patietn thousands of dollars and do a
flat plane splint, various radiographs, and hook them up to a tens machine.
Therapeutically, I did not see how their spending all this money would make
them feel any better (except in a placebo fashion). Basically, once we
start looking at specific muscle soreness associated with certain pain
descriptions, we see the cases differently. I used to look primarily for
joint sounds, now that is a minor portion of the evaluation.
**Otto, I think the difference in view is that after looking at the NTI and
its science, we begin to realize that the muscles are effecting the teeth,
rather the teeth effecting the muscles. Gross occlusal interferences still
need to be dealt with, but a perfect occlusion is not essential. (Although
we all strive to acheive it.)
Dad used to take me downtown to Kerstin-Sanders Lab on the occasional
Saturday morning. We would drive downtown and park at Grand Circus Park
Garage. Then enter the David Whitney Building and ride the elevator. The
elevator operator would pull the handle to lift us to the 18th floor, (no
lighted buttons yet). Then, we would walk over to the stairs to climb up to
the 19th floor. Why the elevator didn't go up to the top,,, I have no idea.
I still remember the vulcanizers lined up on one wall. Rows and rows of
benches and lathes. The entire wall of tooth drawers. It was massive! I
remember Kenny fairly well. Greg is older than me, but not involved in the
lab at that time (if I remember right). Mr. Sanders gave us tickets to one
of the 1968 World Series Games at Tiger Stadium. He was a generous man.
Usually, I was bored at the Lab waiting for Dad to finish setting up
dentures so we could go home. Now, when I go to the Opera House, I look up
at the David Whitney building and "remember".
Then, Mr. Sanders sold the lab to Ferguson and it moved to Clawson.
Everything soon changed. Politics and labor unions. Teamsters and a
strike. Kenny left and became K & G. Dental Lab. Dad left and became Sal
Mancuso Dental Lab. Interesting that the last few years before Dad retired,
he and Kenny were both on Utica Road about 2 miles apart.
A fellow from Jamaica started at Kirsten-Sanders Lab the same week as Dad
did. Since both he and Dad had accents and came from foreign countries
(just hypothesizing), they were put side-by-side at the same bench. When
Dad had his own lab thirty years later, they were still side-by-side.
Today, I got to spend twenty minutes of my day looking at photos of the
Jamaican gentleman's grandchildren! Forty-five years later, we are still
great friends with each other's families!
