This is a brief introduction to the practice called Chirodontics. Think of this as Chirodontics 101 and we’ll go over a brief overview of what the practice of Chirodontics is, as well as how it works. We’ll also look at the bridge between chiropractic and dentistry and the impact this practice can have on your overall health and well-being.
This is going to be an important focus of my work moving forward, so I’m excited to share more about the power of what this practice can do for all! In a nutshell, Chirodontics combines chiropractic techniques and dentistry, utilizing a holistic approach to health focusing on the head, neck, face/facial structure, and cranial issues. The holistic outlook is that everything is connected in the body, so something happening in the cranial region can affect other areas of the body (even down to the nervous system!).
What is the relationship between chiropractic and dentistry?
Chirodontics© is a multi-disciplinary healthcare model created in 1987 by Robert Walker, DC.
According to Dr. Robert Walker, “The most complex case for a dentist is the easiest for a chiropractor to help and the most complex case for a chiropractor is the easiest for a dentist to help.”
Dental and Chiropractic co-care models are being developed and in these early stages education is essential to show how powerful it is when these practices come together. While most don’t think so, the jaw is also a body part that is affected by improper posture. Multiple studies are linking Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD) to a lack of proper posture and there are clear links between the two.
According to the study, Relationship of head posture and the rest position of the mandible, this discusses that less-than-ideal posture could affect neuromuscular influences on the masticatory system [mastication is the action of breaking down of food, preparatory to deglutition]. Mandibular closure is also something that bad posture can negatively affect, and consists of the teeth, jaws, temporomandibular structures, the muscles involved in chewing, and the other structures supporting and surrounding it (cranium/cranial muscles).
The bottom line is that everything is connected in the human body!
How healthy do you want to be? And does not being in pain mean you’re healthy?
There is a big difference between “not sick” and “not healthy” states. However, both are without symptoms. Balancing biomechanical, biochemical, and electromagnetic health helps the body become more and more resilient to everyday stresses, environmental changes, and other health issues. This is how Chirodontics works and where the focus lies.
In regard to pain, it’s nothing more than a nerve signal reaching the brain where you say “ouch,” so pain really is good because it tells us something is wrong. A lack of pain does not mean the system is working right; it could mean that a signal has not come through all the barriers prior to a huge “ouch” moment.
Getting healthy and fixing an imbalance in the body requires a deeper understanding of what’s taking place (the core underlying reasons), and the act of being in balance, or what we call “healthy,” requires a change in behaviors and belief systems. This is why an entire body head-to-toe holistic (or WHOLEistic) approach is required.
However, in today’s mainstream hospital systems and conventional MD approaches, we typically find that medications get served up on silver platters way before a clear and deeper understanding of what’s happening in the body is developed. This circumvents getting to the root issue and instead throws synthetic drugs at the body without clarity around why something is happening, inhibiting a natural path to healing.
The problem with this is that medications block pain and do nothing to solve the core issues, and this puts a person in a dangerous place to create even larger issues than they originally were dealing with.
The care that I am focused on here at Advanced Alignment is that I don’t treat the “problems” per se; instead, I care for people that have problems by addressing the WHOLE body structure and system.
Interested in learning more about Chirodontics and how it can help you? Call me, Dr. Christopher Boyhan at (828) 848-3068.