Anti-Aging Dentistry is a field I am proud to have been one of the first dentists in the world to recognize and to spread the word to the medical community. I first started talking about Anti-Aging Dentistry in the mid 1990’s when I was lecturing to the physicians at the A4M meetings, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. In 1998 I gave a lecture to 2000 physicians at the A4M meeting in Las Vegas. This lecture was transcribed and became the first chapter ever in a medical textbook on Anti-Aging Dentistry. I will discuss how anti-aging medicine can be a life changing treatment later in this article.
This chapter (Anti-Aging Medical Therapeutics Vol # is posted on my office website is available at my office website via a link at: http://www.delanydentalcare.com/articles.html
Anti-Aging Medical Therapeutics Vol. III
By Ira L. Shapira, DDC (We spend most of our time as dentist looking in people’s mouths, and what we see very often is that physicians do the same thing, except they never look at the mouth.)
This lecture was one of the first ever given by a dentist to the medical community relating periodontal disease to a wide variety of medical conditions including, heart disease, strokes, vascular disease, generalized iflamatory states, nutrition, diabetes, pulmonary and respiratory diseases and more.
The discussion of Sleep Apnea and snoring and treatment with intra-oral appliances was a major accomplishment for the entire field of Dental Sleep Medicine. Thousands of physicians learned that dentistry affected not just oral health but maintained the airway one of the most important mechanical and physiologic aspects of life. It also clearly stated the connection between TMJ (TMD) disorders and sleep Apnea. Shimshak et al published two articles in Cranio that were widely ignored by the medical community. The Anti-Aging lectures and publications exposed thousands of physicians to information linking TMJ disorders to every field of medicine.
The field of Stem Cells was in its infancy when I presented information about stem cell therapy from umbilical cord blood and stem cells from developing tooth buds. The stem cells from tooth buds offer advantages over embryonic and umbilical cord blood stem cells. I currently hold several patents on collection of stem cells from the developing tooth bud during prophylactic early removal of wisdom tooth buds (germectomy). Dr Wayne Franco of New Heart believes these cells can be used to treat traumatic brain injury, autism and other disorders.
While the scientific knowledge was well recieved the biggest response came from photographs of the facial and postural changes from neuromuscualar dental reconstructions. Patients who looked 20 years younger in undr two minutes by placement of different dentures created a muted silence and expressions of awe from the audience of Anti-Aging physicians.
The treatment of headaches and chronic pain through neuromuscular dentistry are explained at http://www.ihateheadaches.org.
The treatment of sleep apnea and snoring is explained in detail at http//www.ihatecpap.com.
I am currently the Secretary of ICCMO, the International College of CranioMndibular Orthopedics and I am also a representative to the Alliance of Temporomandibular Organizations (TMD Alliance) from ICCMO. ICCMO is the organization dedicated to research and advancement of NEUROMUSCULAR DENTISTRY. Additional informational about Neuromuscular Dentistry is available online at Sleep and Health Journal at
https://www.sleepandhealth.com/neuromuscular-dentistry
I am frequently contacted by patients from around the U.S. and Canada who are interested in seeing me in my Gurnee, Illinois office for treatment of chronic headaches and TMJ disorders. Historically, I have severely limited the number of out of town patients I saw due to the extensive work-up and time necessary. We have recently moved into our new offices (http://www.delanydentalcare.com) and I will now be able to see up to two new long distance patients each month.
Patients interested will be seen all day Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning befroe returning home and will need to arrive on Sunday to hbe available at 8:00 AM on Monday. I hope to be able to drastically improve the quality of lif over those three days for patients with chronic tension headaches, chronic migaines, episodic tension-type headaches and TMJ disorders. There are never any guarantees of results but these concentrated appointments will help patients rapidly go thru the steps to reach maximum improvement.
Dentistry has been relegated to a secondary position by medicine for years but it is important to remember that the Trigeminal Nerve or Dental Nerve is responsible for over half of all input into the brain. Bad data equals bad results and Neuromuscular Dentistry helps eliminate noxious input into the central nervous system that can cause central sensitization.
The cosmetic results of Neuromuscular Dentistry speak for themselves. Patients with orofacial problems should alway correct their physiology prior to any surgical procedure.