Osteopathy & Orthodontic Treatment

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What can osteopathic treatment have to do with teeth!? Let's establish a few definitions first.

Dentistry is the branch of healthcare that deals with the health of your teeth and mouth. Orthodontics , is the specialist branch of dentistry, that deals with the position of teeth in the jaw bones. Osteopaths are experts in the assessment of the function of the bones, joints and soft tissues of the body, which includes the bones of the spine, neck, head and face.

There is a third branch of dentistry, not so well known in England, but commonly utilised in the USA, and many European counties, called Dental Orthopaedics . These specialists use dental appliances to adjust the position and size of the jaw bones to allow the erupting adult teeth to “fit” in to the jaw. This is in contrast to the more conventional orthodontic route of extraction of up to four molars to “make room” for the adult teeth.

There are several ways an osteopath can potentially help influence the position of the teeth, particularly during the rapid growth and development of children.

• The posture of the patient impacts on the position of the lower jaw bone. You can feel this on yourself: let your head fall forward towards your chest, and open and close your mouth, feel how the teeth touch. Now, tip your head back (look up to the ceiling) open and close your mouth, and feel how your teeth touch. Different?

  Careful assessment of the posture, with treatment advice and exercises to improve things can set the scene for good long term head neck and jaw alignment. Poor head and neck relationships can also add to the possibility of headaches for people of all ages.

• The bones of our head and face are themselves mobile!! What my face bones move? Yes they do; for example, there is a joint between the two halves of your upper jaw (run your tongue along the roof of your mouth and you will feel the line of the joint.) Dental specialists rely on this fact to help reposition aspects of the teeth in orthodontic treatment programmes.

  Osteopaths believe that trauma, in the form of local bumps and bashes to the head can influence both the head-neck position, and the capacity of the joints between the skull bones to freely accommodate the normal movements of growth and development.

• Advice for growing kids. Thumb sucking, the use of dummies for babies, mouth breathing , study posture, diet choices, can all impact on the growth of good teeth and importantly, jaw bone position and development.

In our experience children with poor jaw alignment and development can be more prone to infections of: a) the middle ear (“glue ear”) with resulting hearing loss and potential speech development issues, b) the throat as “tonsillitis”, and c) upper chest as recurrent bronchitis.

Our osteopaths are trained to recognise developing dental and “bite” issues. We support many patients through programmes designed to realign teeth and the bones of the jaw and can direct you towards specialist dentists if needed.

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If you require any further information or wish to discuss any problems you may have, please contact the Church Street Practice on 01225 868282, or book in for a free 15 minute consultation.