Mike Wiegenstein: Hello, and welcome to Medical News Network, your trusted source for the latest in the medical and dental information you need to know. I am Mike Wiegenstein and thanks for joining us. Today, we brought our cameras to Columbus Ohio to the offices of Dr. Dawne Slabach to find out about two things that well. Until recently I never would have thought to go the dentist for sleep apnea, snoring and TMJ, all to this function of the jaw joint that causes headaches, migraines, and dizziness. So, if you like to be better educated or may be you suffer from some of these. My advice, sit back, take comfort, relax, and I will see you in a few minutes.
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Dr. Dawne Slabach: Hey Mike.
Mike Wiegenstein: Hi doctor. Thank you first of all for allowing my crew and I to come out today and spend some time with us.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Oh with pleasure.
Mike Wiegenstein: We are going to talk about and obviously you are going to let me meet some patients -- your office and we are going to talk little about sleep apnea and TMJ, which is the disfunction with jaw joint.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Right.
Mike Wiegenstein: You have a practice that’s -- in children’s dentistry, you do a lot of orthodontics is that what led you down this. It’s not normally you find the dentist, in fact there is very few in the country I checked as I ended up with you to treat these properly. How did you get into TMJ?
Dr. Dawne Slabach: I got into treating TMJ and sleep through the orthodontic door and treating children with jaw problems or the jaws relating that we can prevent TMJ problems by treating children when they are younger. They got me into them treating adults and finding
Mike Wiegenstein: Did you fall by following these kids I mean obviously I have talked to you a little, we talked about most orthodontists they call it four by extraction or 440 my knees went through it and then they shrink everything down. We now know that a lot of that leads to headaches and other problems down the road. Did you in treating the children and watching them, I mean it’s a pretty big set for you. A lot of dentists don’t -- they don’t -- and all these kids grow up and have terrible problems. What was it in there that you saw could make this big difference?
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Well, a part of it probably that the big thing that got me into TMJ was my own problems, my own orthodontic treatments and led to TMJ problems myself and then they are not wanting my children or any of my patients to go through the same thing.
Mike Wiegenstein: For you have actually had these problems.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Yes.
Mike Wiegenstein: This is a personal experience.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Yes.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay, so did you have extraction
Dr. Dawne Slabach: -- extracted. I had what’s called the cervical headgear where you got this bulk on around into the back get back teeth, braced against -- I fortunately did not have teeth taken out too but I still feel like it led me --
Mike Wiegenstein: When you are going to saying the day that the forward jaw being back creates a lot of these problems.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: It can yes.
Mike Wiegenstein: Now what do you find and I am going to ask you patients when I found out dentistry is and I will tell it sounds a little -- I mean its like we are going to fix you with no pain, with no medicines, no surgeries what do patients normally say when you meet them and start talking to about him are they accepted to it or they use little concern
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Initially they are skeptical. A lot of them have already been to 10, 12, 15 other doctors for their headaches, neck aches, back aches, whatever their symptoms need happen to be and so far may be all they have been offered is medicine or surgery. So, by the time on the 12 or 15 doctor they have gone to and have not had any results or any relief or any hope, they were skeptical with what I am doing especially when it seems so simple as using appliances.
Mike Wiegenstein: It does seem pretty simple. Alright, I want to meet some of your patients but first get me enter the office.
Pam Smith: So, I had headaches, dizziness and neck pain and those ringing at my ear and pain in my ear. In fact I had been put on antibiotics several times in like 3 years because my doctor thought you know you only have an ear infection but we will put you on antibiotics anyway. So, never they help. So, headaches, dizziness, neck pain, and ear pain those are my primary symptoms and, so I got a mouthpiece that I would wear during the day and one at night and within two to three days of wearing that mouthpiece all of my symptoms were gone. It was awesome, that was the first time in about three years I hadn’t had any dizziness. So, it was really great.
Mike Wiegenstein: Hi doc, would you take a minute and just show me or tell me what exactly what TMJ is as your patients make it sound like when you explain I mean its a very simple thing to understand so tell me about it.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: -- talking about is right here. TMJ stands for the temporal bone of the skull which is here the socket and m for mandibular which is the lower jaw, Temporo-Mandibular Joint, TMJ.
Mike Wiegenstein: So, everybody has TMJ.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Everybody has. Hopefully everybody has two one on each side, right one and the left one and this part did sits up into the socket like a little bone, socket joints called the condyle and it’s the part that actually moves when you open and close your mouth. Seated behind the condyle is the ear hole and between the ear hole and this condyle there is a spongy area full of blood vessels and nerves.
Mike Wiegenstein: There might be little bit of space right there
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Right back here, then all the head neck and facial muscles.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright. So, what is TMD, is that -- joint doesn’t work right?
Dr. Dawne Slabach: TMD or Temporo-Mandibular Disfunction, TMJ disorder that kind of all synonymous is when this joint is not functioning properly. Most of the time its when the lower jaw is back too far, this condyle is pushed backwards, its sitting on those blood vessels and nerves, causing the muscles of to supply to go into spasm, decrease blood flow.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay, I know you have some photos you are going to go over here with me real quick so let’s pull one out and lets look at the normal TMJ photos.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: So, this is not just a view of the skull.
Mike Wiegenstein: What is the blue
Dr. Dawne Slabach: The blue is the cartilage disc concealed between these two bones in a normal situation is the cartilage disc, its like a pillow in there provide shock absorption lubrication things lets things function smoothly.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright and there is good spacing behind them --
Dr. Dawne Slabach: You have good space behind the condyle so that where the blood vessels are and through all the opening and closing movements of the jaw joint that disc should stay between those bones.
Mike Wiegenstein: Right, now let’s look at the abnormal joint.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: More than likely when the lower jaw gets pushed back, the disc slides forward.
Mike Wiegenstein: Is that why sometimes when you open your jaw you hear a popping is that the bone going over that disc --
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Yes, it’s that disc getting back between the two bones as you open and then sometimes you hear a click when you close again as the pop backs off
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay and now that this being forward obviously is like a little wedge and pushes the bone backwards.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Yes and it looks like as a wedge and it is held there by ligaments that have gotten stretched.
Mike Wiegenstein: But is it not when I see that they have the longer ligaments. Can you go back for the normal one for just a second and now we are going to see that the ligaments look you can see they are nice and tight.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Nice and tight fibrous.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay, what are some of the symptoms obviously if my jaw pops. Now I know people have a popping jaw that’s popped their whole life and they don’t thing they have a problem but that’s just telling you so if your car making a funny noise something is wrong.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Correct, something with that alignment that got a dislocation within that jaw joint. The disc is out of place.
Mike Wiegenstein: What are some of the other symptoms, like you said headaches.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Headaches, neck aches, back aches, shoulder pain, ear pain, ear ringing, ear stuffiness, sinus problem.
Mike Wiegenstein: -- their ears ring all the time.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: -- could be that the jaw is not positioned.
Mike Wiegenstein: And you said also may be things like fiber mitosis -- I mean the list is and it’s all because of the nerve.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Right.
Mike Wiegenstein: And what do you think I mean why do the most people don’t they dint get checked for will they not know to come to the dentist, do they not, do they go to the regular family doctor, he gives him a pill.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: That’s a lot of it, a lot of people take treatment for chronic headaches but the medical community tends to treat them either with drugs or surgery.
Mike Wiegenstein: And if they comes that you are not going to do surgery, you just diagnose people and don’t this is a problem.
Dr. Dawne Slabach: Right, right, we -- surgery and prescribe new drugs.
Peter Coe: Well, I had spent a great deal of time in my early 30s ill all the way through around 40 years old now for about the last 10 years very ill series of headaches, just a chronic fatigue just in bad shape generally. I went and had massage therapy but people told I had -- or if something wrong with my neck.
Other doctors told me I had severe sinus problems. I had MRI, CT scans, multiple, and that had at least 6 different MRIs done and thought I had a brain lesion or something wrong in that room. It was like throwing doubts in the wind, it really didn’t have a whole lot of methodology to it, I didn’t see a -- whatever specialist I went to that will be the problem I have. Interestingly enough my wife did a lot of research and she came upon TMJ online --
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