Get Rid of Your Mouthguard Appliance and Get Rid of Your TMJ Pain
There is exciting new computer-guided TMJ Pain Treatment developed by Boston Prosthodontist, Dr. Robert Kerstein, that has been proven to be much faster, and a more permanent a solution to TMJ Symptoms, than Mouthguard and Appliance-based TMJ Treatment.
Dr. Robert Kerstein, the longest standing researcher, author, and user of Computerized Occlusal Analysis Technology (since 1984), has developed a computer-guided TMJ Treatment that offers patients such effective TMJ Pain improvements, that his patients rarely need Nightguards, Mouthguards, oral appliances, or deprogramming appliances…even if they grind their teeth!
No Niteguards, Mouthguards, or NTIs are used in the treatment at all.
Over the past 27 years, Dr. Kerstein has become the leading author in the field of computerized Occlusal Analysis, by studying Prosthodontics (1983-1985; Bridgework, Caps, Implant Restoration, Complete and Partial Dentures) at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine at the same time computerized occlusal analysis was born at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (also in Boston). The first T-Scan I System made its way to Tufts and to Dr. Kerstein in 1984, where he studied and treated dental students, faculty, and administrative staff who suffered with chronic Headaches and TMJ Pain from 1985 thru 1998.
From the research data gathered at Tufts, combined with numerous peer-reviewed publications about computer-guided TMJ Treatment (See Publications and Manuscripts web page), a non- Mouthguard and non-Appliance, computer-guided TMJ Pain Treatment has evolved.
Up until the time of the development of the T-Scan system, Mouthguards were necessary because the true cause of TMJ Pain was not understood by Dentists. A Mouthguard sits between teeth to stop them from touching. This often helped TMJ pain, as long as the patients had their Mouthguard or Appliance in place. Once they removed the Appliance or Mouthguard, the TMJ Pain and Symptoms would occur again. Mouthguards were helpful because they lessened pain by blocking the teeth from touching each other.
But with the T-Scan System, a TMJ Dentist can see tooth contact minute Time and Force Occlusal Problems that can’t be seen without using a T-Scan. And these same Time and Force Occlusal Problems can’t be seen with Articulating Paper either….
Dr. Kerstein’s research has repeatedly shown that these minute Time and Force Occlusal Problems "fire" a patient’s nervous system and jaw muscles through the very tooth sockets the back teeth sit in. As back teeth touch each other while a patient chews, eats, or grinds their teeth, opposing teeth push each other in and out of their sockets. These socket compressions go on unknown to the patient and happen thousands of times through the day, all the while, excessively firing the jaw muscles of a TMJ Patient into a state of Chronic TMJ Pain.
However, recorded T-Scan data allows a Dentist to know exactly what is wrong with the Time and Force issues, the bite Balance, and the tooth contact Forces within a TMJ patients’ entire mouth. By using this information and correcting these Time and Force Occlusal Problems with computer-guidance, the amount of tooth socket compression can be precisely controlled so that the tooth sockets stop firing the jaw muscles. In most patients, many of the TMJ Pain and Symptoms go away within the first week after treatment has begun….
And that’s without wearing a Mouthguard or Appliance!!!
Demographic analyses shows that over 15 million Americans suffer with some form of bite disorder. Prior to the development of this computer program and Disclusion Time Reduction treatment, patients with bite problems were forced to wear cumbersome and unattractive mouth acrylic splints. These plastic bite guards interfere with sleep, work, social interactions, and eating. However, they were all that was readily available to a sufferer of a bite problem. Because of this modern computerized treatment advance, many patients no longer need to wear, sleep with, and depend upon, cumbersome mouth splints, nor are they forced to see numerous medical practitioners. And, most importantly, the patients do not have to live with their pain.
DISCLUSION TIME REDUCTION uses state of the art computer analysis of a patients' bite to assess the time a patients back teeth are engaged in chewing or grinding function. Published studies reveal that if this time factor is prolonged, back teeth can create very high levels of muscle contractions in a patients jaw, face, head, and neck. These contractions are the main cause of symptoms like facial pain, tired jaws, grinding of the teeth during sleep, frequent headaches, and neck spasm. By shortening the time factor to under .5 seconds (hence the name DISCLUSION TIME REDUCTION through a variety of dental procedures that can be performed on the bite, these muscle contractions are effectively reduced. Symptoms often begin to abate in the first week after the first treatment appointment. Treatment time is usually 1-3 months, with a lasting effect for years in most cases. A published 9 year recall study (Cranio, 1995; 13(2):105-115) has shown that, once performed properly, Disclusion Time Reduction provides a patient with a much more comfortable life whereby most patients no longer need splints, soft food diets, chiropractors, and physical therapists. Additionally, and most importantly, long term medication use was cut by Disclusion Time Reduction in all categories of medication use (pain, anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxant, and headache) by over 90%.
Here is a link to a Youtube Video of a patient who had TMJ pain and used Mouthguard and Appliances for years before having Dr. Kerstein’s Computer-guided TMJ Pain Treatment
http://www.youtube.com/tekscaninc#p/c/0A31927968D2F18B/0/3oue1BuvBxQ
The T-Scan III System
Tekscan, Inc., (www.tekscan.com/dental Boston based computer software company that was started by a dentist in 1984, has developed sophisticated occlusal analysis hardware and software, that allows the user to quickly isolate bite force discrepancies between the teeth in a way that is easily understood by the dentist.
Computerized Occlusal Analysis technology records, and quickly displays for clinical interpretation, tooth contact timing sequences, and each tooth contacts’ fluctuating force levels which occur during functional jaw movements. These measurements are recorded intraorally with an ultra-thin, mylar-encased sensor that is connected to a computer via a USB interface. The displayed occlusal data aids in the examination and treatment of occlusal abnormalities on natural teeth, dental prostheses, and dental implant prostheses.
The evolution of pressure sensitive ink - Mylar encased sensor technology, was introduced with the T-Scan® I computerized occlusal analysis system by Maness et. al1 in 1984. Occlusal data was obtained by instructing patients to occlude through an intraoral recording sensor that was connected to a stand-alone computer. The computer screen displayed a Force Movie1, which illustrated a dynamic columnar time and force display of the recorded occlusion for playback and analysis.
The original T-Scan I recording sensor was comprised of a flexible laminated epoxy matrix surrounding a pressure sensitive ink grid, which was formed in the shape of a dental arch. When inserted intraorally, and occluded into and through by a patients teeth, the sensor relayed occlusal contact real-time and relative force information to compatible software that was capable of interpreting 16 levels of intraoral force in approximately .01 second time increments. The resultant occlusal analysis was displayed in two or three dimensions, as a Force Snapshot1, or as a continuous Force Movie1 of the entire occlusal contact sequence the patient made.
In 1998, the entire T-Scan I system was redeveloped the T-Scan II Occlusal Analysis System for Windows® was released. The changes included hardware, software, and further sensor advances. T-Scan II was s a Microsoft Windows® (Microsoft Corp.) compliant system that has been integrated into a clinical diagnostic computer workstation. An IBM compatible PC with a Pentium processor, and a minimum of 4-8 megabytes of RAM, were required to properly operate the system . The graphical interface used familiar Windows® toolbar icons, to display the software features that are utilized to analyze occlusal contact information.
In 2006 , T-Scan II was altered to interface with the PC via a USB plug that replaced a serial parallel port interface. Then, in 2008, T-Scan III USB with Turbo Mode Recording was introduced. A recording handle improvement resultant from increased speeds with which computer chips process commands, made it possible to significantly increase the recording speed. The Evolution Handle of the T-Scan III USB System, can record when in Turbo Mode in increments of .003 seconds, thereby capturing 3 times more occlusal data for analysis than T-Scan III USB. This gives a Dentist more detailed occlusal force change information, with increased ability to detect aberrant occlusal force concentrations within a patients occlusion, over a conventional T-Scan III USB recording..