Airway Centered Dentistry: (The A, B, C’s of Treatment for Chronic Face Pain/OSA and Closing Anterior Openbite Without Ortho)

Oral Health | May 2017
by Steven Olmos, DDS, DABCP, DABCDSM, DABDSM, DAAPM, FAAOP, FAACP, FICCMO, FADI, FIAO

Bullet points

1. Definition-orthopedic/functional breathing
2. Comorbidity of orthopedic and facial pain and breathing
3. Answers to our questions
4. Method or technique-paradigm shift
5. Integrating myofunctional techniques

This article defines “Airway Centered Dentistry”, explains the mechanism of chronic face/jaw pain and dysfunction, reviews the technique and triage systems that have been successful in the standardized approach currently utilized in 45 TMJ and Sleep Therapy Centres in seven countries.

Treating chronic pain is a lot like emergency medicine. There is a triage process where structural (orthopedic/dental), metabolic, breathing (functional and obstructive apnea), infectious, and genetic mechanisms are evaluated. When patients are unconscious in the ER the airway, breathing and circulation are evaluated. In the treatment of chronic head pain, we do the same.

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