Professional's Forum

Pioneers

The Headgear
Effect

Integrative Wholistic Therapy

• The Twenty dollar Bill
• Acculiner
• Cranial – Dental Relationships
• Dental-Cranial-Postural Relationships

• Engineer, DO, DC
• Desired to become an electrical design engineer for automobiles in 1920. This was abruptly ended by an accidental explosion which left him incapacitated to the extent that he sought help from the osteopathic and chiropractic professions. His resolve, if he recovered, was to help mankind in any way possible.
• He attended Lincoln College of Chiropractic in Nebraska and graduated in 1924. Subsequently, Dr. DeJarnette earned an osteopathic degree in 1926. Opening his practice in Nebraska City, Nebraska in 1925, his clinical and adjusting skills did not go unnoticed by other chiropractic physicians who began to send him non-responding patients. This was the origin of his clinical research, which originated from an intense desire to understand the subluxation and its effects.

• Live Presentations and DVD
• Myofunctional Influences on Facial Growth
• Myofunctional Appliances (Trainers)
• Diagnostics based on function
• Form Follows Function

• Pedodontist
• Neuromuscular Dentist
• Airway Specialist
• Airway Obstruction’s effects on growth and development

• Chiropractor and Dentist Team
• “Case Studies
  Evaluating the Effects of
  Altered Mandibular Posture on
  Cervical Function”
• Landmark Study 1993

• “Mandibular posture which can be influenced by growth and development as well as dental treatment seems to have an influence on cervical biomechanics. Chiropractors need to further study this phenomenon and its ultimate effects on treatment. Malocclusions apparently do have a major impact on cervical function.”

• Growth Patterns
• Headgear Effect
• Indicator Line
• Esthetics Issue

• Extended AGO paradigm
• Developed ALF Appliances
• DDS-Osteopathic Co-treatment

• “Nutrition & Physical Degeneration” 1939
• Growth & Development effects relative to nutritional content of foods
• Facial Distortions
• Tooth Decay
• Airway Compromise
• Postural Distortions
• Inhibited Heredity

• Functional Appliances
• Motivation: “You too can achieve results like this. Some of you will achieve even better results.”
• Extended the paradigm

The Dental Definition

An environmentally (nutritional deficiency) induced force on the maxilla or maxillary teeth resulting in the position of the maxilla or maxillary teeth to be retrognathic relative to optimal position (genetic potential).

The SOT-Cranial Definition

The headgear effect (HGE) or distortion pattern is due to the narrowing of the face and skull which keeps the cranial system restricted and unable to release all the way into its flexion stage, keeping the cranial rhythm impulse (CRI) restricted. This leaves the cranial motion diminished with an increased predisposition for the system to have extension lesions or fixation.

In SOT this would find most of our cranial faults that we identify to be always in internal rotation or extension. There would be a sympathetic stimulus imbalance to the systems creating a constant state of musculo-skeletal tension due to the adaptive and compensating mechanism in the body. The second half of the HGE is the jamming and distortion of the cranial sutures and bone.

The longer the system has been adapting to this condition the more complex the distortions. The pressure on the cranium produces stress in all the sutures and distorts the shape of the cranium. The muscle tension will cause a torquing that originates in the sub-occipital region pulling anterior through the cranial vault and into the frontal bone, where there will be more of a dropping or inferior pull which transmits through all of the facial bones and sutures. The maxilla, malar, and mandible are being pulled inferiorly, posteiorly, and medially.

The Effects

Retrognathic maxillary posture, maxillary distortion in the form of high palatal vault, retrognathic mandibular posture, mandibular posture (over closed or over opened), airway compromise in the nasal, naso- pharynx, or oro-pharynx passages, cervical postural and mechanical compromise (forward head posture), increased thoracic postural and mechanical compromise (kyphosis), and potential lumbar, pelvic and lower extremity involvement.

Secondary Distortions include Sub-occipital tension, loss of cervical curve and forward head posture, decreased lumbar curve and/or increased lumbo-sacral disc angle, unstable SI joint, forward or anterior hand position in standing posture, pain in feet and poor foot mechanics. Muscle tension and spasm will be present any of the areas listed here.

How It Happens

Distorted growth patterns due to airway compromise; distorted growth patterns due to nutritional deficiencies; distorted myofunctional patterns due to birthing and rearing practices; orthodontic forces; stress or pain eliciting sympathetic stimulus and increased muscle tension; chronic pain, including psychological, emotional, and skeletal pain anywhere in the body, especially the TMJ.

A Summary of Findings

Changing bite doesn’t always fix problem; Advancing mandible doesn’t always stop snoring; Functional appliances don’t always work; Airway is more fundamental building block of physiology than occlusion; Chronic pain regardless of location, will perpetuate sympathetic overload.

Treatment Elements

With HGE in mind, Dr. Gerardo and Dr. Johnson integrate their treatment modalities where and when appropriate. Elements involved in negating HGE are dental arch development to open the airway, jaw joint mobilization and muscle therapy, myofunctional appliances, myofascial therapy, specific chiropractic adjustments to the spine, cranial manipulations, sutural release, dietary counseling and nutritional supplements.

• Difficult cases require a “tag-team” approach. Understanding that successful treatment may require modalities outside of your scope of care, and collaborating with those who can provide these modalities.
• Treating adults provides insight into how to (or not to) treat the growing child.
• The roadblocks encountered in the iatrogenically compromised patient necessitate an “outside the box” thought process, and equivalent treatments.
• “Wholistic” orientation helps to prioritize treatment modalities.
• Recognition of the importance of Airway Competency (how airway restrictions develop, how airway restrictions affect growth, postural compensations, dental relationships).

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