Total Body Posture

Your happiest smile includes a healthy bite position that corrects and supports the total posture of the body.

A perfect posture makes the human body super-efficient, capable of undertaking any type of activity with little expenditure of energy. A perfect posture noticeably reduces the possibility that this bio-machine (the human body) might break down in some way (for example, through sports injuries, ailments, lack of concentration, development of chronic illnesses, etc.).

The position and way the teeth fit together affects the top of the cervical spine, where C-1 and C-2 are located. C-1 and C-2 are the only 2 spinal segments that have only 2 points of contact with each other and the rest of the system. All other vertebral segments have 3 points of contact. As it turns out, the third point of contact for the upper 2 cervical components are the teeth and bite. If the bite system is corrupted or deficient the whole body will compensate in a negative fashion leading to among other things hyperlordosis, hyperkyphosis, scoliosis, compression of discs, twisting of the pelvis, and more. The analogy would be a short third leg of a stool that would cause imbalance and instability in that stool. Without symmetry of the body, health is compromised.

Doctors tell us that diseases that are generated through the years in our body are essentially a consequence of a combination of three factors: genetics, diet and lifestyle (sedentary lifestyle, stress, the environment where we live, etc.).

This is an actual patient of Dr. Buck. The left side xray is before treatment. The right xray shows the effect on the cervical spine within a few month of active treatment with a neuromuscular orthosis which aligns the lower jaw to a more physiologic posture. The improved lordotic curvature on the right is in response to the orthotic therapy. Many TMJ patients report neck pain and symptoms which often resolve due to the positive impact on the cervical spine from orthotic treatments.

But, there is a fourth key factor that determines the progress of aging and disease. This fourth factor is determined by postural conditions.
If your skull is not sufficiently supported by the teeth, it tends to press on the spine pushing it down.
With age, the body tends to collapse and twist on itself like a wrung cloth if it is not sufficiently supported by a proper support of the bite system.

If the skull is not properly supported, it tends to push down (literally to sink) narrowing the space available to the spine that consequently curves (it is for this reason that scoliosis, lordosis or kyphosis arise).

With a body like that your life expectancy decreases because certainly in this collapsing process the underlying structures (organs, nerves, arteries, veins) tend to compress and to work badly creating numerous physical, and psychological symptoms such as chronic fatigue, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, headaches, pain in the neck ….

In all of our treatments for both TMJ and orthodontics, Dr. Buck will plan a course of care that will correct and support body posture. We also work with leading structural specialists in the fields of Physical Therapy, Chiropractic, Craniosacral and massage that can adjunctively help the body posture to unravel while we are treating the bite system.

The balancing process and the return into symmetry will literally involve a revolution in your body: the body will become widely more elastic, the center of gravity will lower, your balance will improve dramatically, respiration will become deeper, the diaphragm will work much better and all the muscles will work in symmetry.