Stepping Stones
Tolerate Ambiguity – Dwell in Potentiality
In May 2025, I relayed the history surrounding my MAD
(mandibular advancement device) to my San Jose dentist and Phoenix oral surgeon.
They were both shocked.
“Oh my God. This is irreparable”, exclaimed my dentist.
“This is what we’re trying to fix now,” I stated.
The oral surgeon was speechless when he learned the name of the dentist
who had treated my alleged “TMJ” in 1978 with this procedure.
He has known him since that time.
Another piece of the orofacial puzzle unravels
The head is attached to a body –
and they function as a whole.
What can be undone
that was done 50 years ago?
My first question: “Can the mandible actually change shape? This splint doesn’t feel right”. My osteopath said she would find out.
Thus, I learned how to test this device.
1) Palpate the head with the splint out;
2) Palpate the head with the splint in with
NO TEETH TOUCHING;
3) Palpate the head with teeth touching.
And, it was determined the occlusion was the problem since splint insertion did not affect my head. She asked me to remove the device until I saw the dentist and proceeded with her treatment. This was a first since starting to wear the appliance in October!
And I was most aware that I was in for big adjustments in the upcoming weeks.
Surprise
The week prior to my San Jose/Santa Cruz visits manifested with unusual and extreme responses to ‘regular’ treatment by both my osteopath
and physical therapist. I distinctly remember making the comment:
“My bite is changing
….this splint isn’t right anymore.”
All of above underscored what happened with the dentist. The previous visit in April
he had informed me I didn’t need to see him monthly; my bite had stabilized.
He ate all of these words when I opened my mouth and he checked the occlusion.
“Good grief! You’re not touching
at all on the right side!”
I asked to NEVER tell me I’m stable again;
he agreed! He then confirmed that the appliance could be an ‘initiator’ as well as an ‘inhibitor’. Once stability was reached with change initiated by the device, then the body regrouped and could change. And thus the appliance had become an ‘inhibitor’.
Occlusal adjustments rectified my bite for me to return to the osteopath and Santa Cruz the next day. When he learned I was getting PRP injections, he said there would
be even more change.
PRP – Platelet Rich Plasma
Kyphosis or ‘head-forward posture’ is common with aging, especially when your lower spine has been fused one-inch anterior (1976) and your mandible (lower jaw) traumatized by improper dental intervention with extreme mandibular advancement (1978). Therefore, PRP injections in the cervical spine were recommended to treat this upper cervical ‘compensation’ as an injury.
Eleven injections were performed; a reaction at C-5 on the right side with the injection prevented C-6 from being injected. In addition, the blood draw for the procedure turned into an unexpected ‘nightmare’ due to my hypercoagulation issues. What normally was a 10 minute procedure turned into 45 minutes, creating a disaster in the doctor’s schedule as well as making me anxious for my return trip to San Jose to catch an airplane!
I was most concerned with the following observation by my doctor: ” I’ve never seen such thick blood in all the years I’ve drawn blood for this procedure! Your body can’t heal properly.”
A Spinal Fusion and
The Cervical Spine
Intubation injury (1972) –>
Spinal fusion, L5-S1 (1976) —>
Dental trauma to mandible (1978) –>
Orthodontic injury to palate (1996)
The Unknown Continues
The first appointment with my Phoenix osteopath years ago was memorable. “Why did they fuse your spine one inch too anterior?” asked the osteopath as he had me stand up to start his examination of my body. I was shocked and alarmed: “What can you do then?” His immediate response gave me relief: “Well, obviously I can’t change the fusion but I can help your body adapt to this structural issue.
I didn’t meet him until after the intubation injury, the two back surgeries and the dental trauma with the mandible advancement. My life would have been very different if I had met him ten years earlier! As it turned out, he certainly turned my life around.
The recent addition of the ‘orofacial osteopath’ threw me back into the dental splint – which I didn’t expect. “This is what got you in trouble. I am thinking that this can help reverse the jaw trauma.”
Returning to the world of dental appliances was not at all anticipated. Now, eight months later, there’s been a major shift. and the splint has been removed for three weeks. However, the every-other-day symptoms of fluid and pain have not stopped since triggered in the orthodontic procedure in 1996, splint or no splint. Nor, has anyone been able to identify what is going on to create the fluid. Yes, lots of change – and very challenging as my entire back reacts to this device, hence the PRP in the cervical spine.
I find myself returning to my mantra declaration over the years : “A little sliver of bone’s lodged in the tissue.” The downward shift of the palate / hamular process – which was later surgically confirmed as ‘dead and deteriorating’ from improper healing due to the intubation injury, could easily be the source…confirmed by the fluid reaction within 30-minutes of the procedure on June 4 at 10:30 am in Tustin, California. This month of June 2025 marked the 29th year since this 1996 trauma.
The orthodontic injury to the palate is located precisely where the tongue rises back and up and pushes out the maxilla against the teeth when swallowing. And when breathing in, the palate expands and widens. If I didn’t have to breathe or swallow, maybe the pain would disappear? Scanning shows nothing; endoscopy shows nothing.
Connections
A network of ‘guy-wires’ that hook one part of my body to another part – a tug-of war with movement. And if I could just move or breathe right, the ‘guy wire’ would snap and all would be over.
My own ability to intervene with the pain grows as I live through these changes. I sit in the pain and breathe into the shifting sensations. The laser light can affect change with a shimmering quality. Sometimes my own breathing can initiate this ‘shimmering’ vibrating quality. Jin Shin is my long-time self help tool coupled with breathing. Sometimes, I marvel at what my Body and I can do with pain together.