Effects of Occlusion
If somebody asked, “why do we have teeth?” many people would say, “to bite, chew and eat”. Of course these functions are important but is that all teeth do? No. The most important role of teeth is to “support the whole body”.

Firstly, if malocclusion occurs, muscles are affected. If you chew in an inappropriate way for a long period of time, muscles such as the masseter, temporalis and the rectus capitis lateralis (located in the face or head) will experience abnormal force. Then, the neck muscles will be affected and pain will occur in the neck, arms, shoulders and back. Secondly, bone will be affected. As the jawbones are connected to the rest of the bones in the body, if they don’t sit in the right position it will affect the spine and the pelvis. Not only could it cause minor ailments such as stiff shoulders, pins and needles in the arms, dizziness, ringing in the ears, backache and knee pain, it could also cause more serious complaints.

Temporomandibular Artrosis In most hospitals, treatment using biteplanes (special plates for treating malocclusion) is very common for temporomandibular arthrosis. However, standard treatment procedures haven’t been established even at university medical schools so they are not sure how many millimeters of biteplane is required for each patient. Symptoms of arthrosis are; difficulty opening and closing the mouth, pain around jaw joints and jaw joint movement not being smooth, etc. If you look at a patient’s general conditions, you will notice that they often complain of stiff shoulders or backache (high and low). Therefore, we have to look at the whole body and take into account that temporomandibular arthrosis is a peripheral condition associated with spinal and pelvis ailments. It is also a perfect example of a condition that is considered to be difficult to cure because doctors practicing western medicine don’t see patients’ conditions as a whole.

Examples of Improvements in “General Malaise” by Adjusting Occlusion.

Photo; bad alignment caused by wearing a for a long period of time.

There are patients who are told that biteplane treatment is very safe because shaving the tooth is not required. As a result, they wear biteplanes for months or even years since their temporomandibular arthrosis or general health condition has not improved at all.

▼	Example of improving posture by row of teeth correction Posture has improved by improving the a row of teeth by the correction though the body had been considerably distorted, too.