Mike Wiegenstein: You are watching Medical News Network, trusted source for the latest in medical news and information. I am Mike Wiegenstein and thanks for joining us. On today’s show we take a very special look at two conditions that affect the lives of millions of people.
TMJ, the dysfunction of the jaw joint that has been shown to cause migraines, neck pain, back pain and has recently been related to asthma and high blood pressure and sleep apnea, a condition that until the recent death of Green Bay Packer, All-Pro Lineman Reggie White had gone about its business in relative obscurity. So if you or loved one or family member fatigue, tired, have headaches, maybe some other medical condition that no doctors been able to explain to you then my advice is stick around, you won’t want to miss what our guest has to say today.
Female Speaker: Welcome to an educational and comprehensive discussion with today’s top medical experts. Your trusted source for the latest in medical news and information, you are watching Medical News Network.
Mike Wiegenstein: Welcome back, we are very pleased to have in studio today Dr. William Adams. Dr. Adams is a member of the American Academy of Craniofacial Pain and the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, and is a recognized authority on the treatment of TMJ and sleep apnea. Dr. Adams welcome to the show.
Dr. William Adams: Thank you very much.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright, before we get into our topics today, I just want to ask you if you find that a lot of times I search, I interview doctors all over the country and when I went to find somebody at interview on TMJ and Sleep Apnea, it surprise me that your name a dentist kept coming up. Do you find that most people don’t realize that a dentist is probably the best person to treat these conditions.
Dr. Williams Adams: You are probably correct. Most of time you go to your physician for your headache. They don’t think that relating to their jaw joint. They go to their sleep physician or their physician because they don’t sleep well. They don’t think about a dentist is being adjunct to the sleep doc, so that they can get proper treatment.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay. Tell me a little bit about why you decided. Now you belong to two groups that are very specialized groups that deal with TMJ and Sleep Apnea, very selected group of professionals. Why did you decide to pursue this avenue of treatment?
Dr. Williams Adams: Because there are so many people out there who do not receive the appropriate medical care for their headaches and when they have sleep apnea and can't tolerate their CPAP, they kind of left in limbo. They don’t know where to go. They don’t have another choice or at least they don’t think they have another choice.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright, I came out to your office as I do with everyone before I bring them on to verify what I heard about you, and what I saw was going on. So before we get into too much more, let’s take a quick look at your office. I found your office to be -- most doctor’s office as I go into are bright white walls, bright florescent lights, linoleum floors. Your office seems to be a little bit homey so take me through a few pictures here real quick.
Dr. Williams Adams: Okay, this is our receptions room. It’s kind of a big room, we have taken an older house and renovate it for a dental office and it’s spacious and hopefully patients find it comfortable.
Mike Wiegenstein: The colors are very soothing and then I notice down the hall ways you have nice –- you have earth tones, you have very pleasant stuff. Do you find that most patients like that better than the stark white walls?
Dr. Williams Adams: I certainly hope they do because there is a lot more comfortable working there.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright, we have a lot to cover today. I interviewed quite a few people. I want to have time to show the interviews. Tell me a little bit about what is TMJ.
Dr. Williams Adams: TMJ, that’s a really difficult subject to answer in a short period of time. You have a Condyle, it sits the base of your skull.
Mike Wiegenstein: We are going to bring up a picture here real quick. Alright. Now we can see they are all labeled, the Condyle is basically your lower jaw bone.
Dr. Williams Adams: Hmm hmm.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright.
Dr. Williams Adams: And there is a disk that’s on top of that and then there is the skull that fits on top of that. When those function together it all ride kind of like a saddle on a horse, should route smoothly. There are times when that disk starts to wobble around and not fit smoothly and then there are times when that disk gets locked in front of the head of the joint and it can't open and its intense pain right in front of the head.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright. We are going to put up the second picture and now you can see the disk is moved forward and the jaw bone is compressed back, what’s sits behind that jaw bone.
Dr. Williams Adams: Nerves and blood vessels.
Mike Wiegenstein: That go to --
Dr. William Adams: Head and neck.
Mike Wiegenstein: Everywhere?
Dr. Williams Adams: Everywhere.
Mike Wiegenstein: Right. You brought a little video. We are going to take a look at the video real quick and maybe you can tell everybody kind of what goes on here. Now this is just a normal TMJ joint, right? The red line where they lined up, what is the yellow?
Dr. Williams Adams: Yellow is the disk that fits on top of the head and the joint.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay and then under normal conditions it just slide back and forth.
Dr. Williams Adams: Just like a saddle on a horse.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay, and then what starts to happen, it is that this start to slide forward?
Dr. Williams Adams: It can slide forward and toward the inside, it kind of gets wobbling.
Mike Wiegenstein: Right. Just like we are seeing here, that when you start to get that pop.
Dr. Williams Adams: You could have a pop at that time certainly.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright and then eventually.
Dr. Williams Adams: The disc gets totally dislocated as it just then in front of the head of the joint and that puts a lot of stress on those nerves and blood vessels on the back and causes intense pain.
Mike Wiegenstein: Alright, we are going to bring out because of time constraints, we are going to bring out and look at the first video of a lady that she is the organist at Understanding your Church, and sought treatment from a lot of people. Let see what she has to say real quick.
Debbie Free: I was having a lot of neck problems, I was having in my neck and I had a lot of pain from headaches. I have seen chiropractors for years. I have seen doctors and they said exercise. There have been always one of those people that seems skeptical, that really believe it to ask thousand people, actual patients that he had that he had at store. When headaches are gone, then the plan is gone. More people told the same, because I was one of those people. I came and kind of think for treatment to it. I have seen people that he has treated and is just almost like a miracle and it's unreal what he is doing for people. I wake up in the morning, I feel better. My neck is not all, I am not doing this number all day long.
One thing about TMJ is it's not related like what you would think it, it's a pain related thing in the jaws, the face, the neck, the back. He is wonderful. He is sociable. He talks with you about your problems and finds out the core of what's going on. And staff is right. I mean they always speak, always friendly. I can call them and then talk to them. Mr. Green, I am the organist at the church where Mr. Green comes. He would come down the isle barely get down the isle with a walker or cane. He came to see Dr. Adams. Dr. Adams made a class for him. When he put it in, the man literally walked down the hall by himself with no cane, no nothing. He is actually unstoppable man. Anybody could see the before and after of Mr. Green. They would be in line out in the parking lot to get in here to try to get the box.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay obviously she is in good shape. She takes care of herself, had headaches, had neck pain, nobody could help her. She mentioned Mr. Green that we are going to look at in a minute. Do you find a lot of people that come to see you have had problems, have been to other doctors and haven't been helped?
Dr. Williams Adams: Most of them have been to several physicians, sometimes as many as 20 or 25 searching for the answers to why they are having their pain.
Mike Wiegenstein: And they come to you and most of them don’t even know what TMJ or TMD is?
Dr. Williams Adams: Most of them have not a clue is to what is going on.
Mike Wiegenstein: Okay. She mentioned David Green. Now I had the pleasure meeting Mr. Green. I want to say before we show his clip he had fallen over a wheel barrel running out his back door to check on a noise and until I talk to him I thought I fell a little but, he had been able to run out back door for 20 years he had been walking with a cane.
Dr. Williams Adams: Walking with two canes. He looked like death warmed over before we treated him and there were people who really thought he was almost determined with that point.
Mike Wiegenstein: He has Parkinson’s.
Dr. Williams Adams: Yes.
Mike Wiegenstein: He said to me without a doubt, your treatment has helped him with his Parkinson’s. He didn’t say you cured it he just say he made it better. Do you find that you can help people with diseases that everybody else tells.
Dr. Williams Adams: Anytime you have got a neurological problem and you have a joint dysfunction, if you correct the joint dysfunction the other problem is much more easy to handle.
Mike Wiegenstein: Aright let’s listen what Mr. Green has to say.
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