The BEYOND of the Unknown
On June 4, 1996 at 10:30 am,
an orthodontic procedure in the office
of my California craniofacial pain specialist
triggered the onset of a bizarre orofacial syndrome.
Little did I know that this was the beginning of more than twenty-five years of puzzling symptoms…… complexity beyond the scope of specialization in
dentistry, neurology, orthopedics and otolaryngology.
The cranial Osteopath
does not depend on a scan or a lab test
to confirm or treat these connected ‘unknowns’
– the consequences of an orthodontic procedure.
California Ortho – Part 2
Watermark
Enya
Proceeding forward with the orthodontist after regaining my ability to walk involved fine tuning the occlusion that had been radically altered, creating the unforeseen lengthy impact on my back.
On June 4, 1996 at 10:30 am, an equilibration adjustment (grinding) the left canine tooth to level out the bite precipitated another unexpected nightmare. No flashing pain through my face in the dental chair as years before with my first dental disaster Instead, within 30 minutes of leaving the appointment, I returned to his office. This occlusal change precipitated fluid draining profusely into my throat…my face seemed swollen on the left side and I felt like I was drowning. Late afternoon found me in the office of the orthodontist’s colleague, an oral surgeon. The supposition was that the medial pterygoid plate (a small, thin bone in the throat) was fractured. Scanning did not reveal this to be the case, however.
The next morning, I was again in the orthodontist office – bright and early. The bone in the roof of my left palate had shifted down into the roof of my mouth and was palpable. My experienced orthodontist had never seen this manifestation in the oral cavity before. I later learned that this bone was the hamular process which attached to the medial pterygoid plate – the object of scanning the evening before with the oral surgeon.
The palate does not shift. Defying all textbooks once again, mine had shifted. My osteopath as well as my otolaryngologist did not question that the hamular process had dropped into the roof of my mouth: it was easily palpated. The orthodontic treatment was discontinued. I was left with bizarre symptoms and even more unusual causation. And my occlusion remained in shambles.
Thus, I embarked into the BEYOND of the Unknown.
The next two years found me continuing to search for answers in the dental community to no avail.
I landed in the dental world of ‘cavitations’ –
a hole in the bone from a dental extraction or root canal where the bone did not heal .
However, I was not the usual candidate since I had no root canals. Wisdom teeth were my only extractions.
Because of my unusual symptoms, a Phoenix oral surgeon referred me to his colleague in Indiana
who was a researcher in osteonecrosis of the jawbone.
The BEYOND of the Unknown is also known as
The Land of the Controversial.
