Many years ago, Doctor Henry Tanner unraveled the mysteries of clenching. He
created the ‘balanced jaw concept’ by synchronizing one's bite with one's jaw;
in other words, he balanced jaws by balancing bites. A balanced jaw simply
means that jaw is functioning correctly in the right position. TMJ or Advanced
Periodontal disease does not occur when the jaw is functioning correctly. TMJ,
and other related problems, only occurs when one clenches on an unbalanced
bite. I cannot imagine practicing dentistry without using Tanner's concepts now;
but I did just that for many years before I understood his philosophy of
dentistry. He was not the first to recognize that the bite affected dentistry;
however, he was the first to developed techniques that worked consistently.
We (dentists) have our own professional vocabulary, but we often interpret
professional words differently. To avoid this, I try to imagine sitting in front of a
patient, a colleague, or a friend in another branch of medicine, using words they
will understand. I have learned this by doing just that over the years.
Unfortunately, I will still cause confusion, but hopefully, helpful information will
emerge.
My message is to reveal a concept that is old but ‘new’. The balanced jaw
concept has been around for many years, but it is still new because so few
dentists know about it. Because of Dr. Tanner's genius, he was able to make
complex clenching problems understandable. My hope is that I can popularize his
concept. If you are a patient, this information may not physically help, but if you
learn how and why you have TMJ and other dental problems, you gain control
over what is done to you.
There is enough information provided to get you started in the Tanner Concept
if you are a dentist. A physician may find this information useful.
I am often asked about TMJ specialists. There is no such thing as a TMJ
specialist; but if a dentist wants to be one, he can just hang up a shingle. Most
of them have not learned the ‘balance jaw concept’, so I would be a little
suspicious of one. To find a dentist that knows about the ‘balanced jaw
concept’ (Tanner’s techniques), you have to call a number of them. If a dentist
uses the Tanner methods, he or she will be excited you called, because doctors
using his methods are very proud to be associated with him; however, it is not a
sure thing that they are really qualified.
If Tanner made this concept understandable, then why aren't there tons of dentists
qualified to effectively treat clenching problems. First there are no (or very few)
teachers in dental schools or circuit lectures that understand Tanner's concepts. So
students and dentists only get more confused.
I spent 2 years with Dr. Michael Kadair learning how to be a qualified occlusal
therapist. You can't learn it in a 3 day program (that includes The Panky Institute).
I was searching the web for information on the Tanner appliance and found an
article (with twelve dentists associated in the article) claiming that there is no
conclusive evidence that the Tanner appliance will help TMJ problems. When
you see nonsense like this you can be assured that there were 12 dentists not
qualified to balance a jaw. The web is full of this kind if junk; for example,
orthodontists claiming they can cure TMJ problems with orthodontics (always
unbalanced); believe me that is not possible. When the jaw is balanced, one
cannot have nocturnal clenching problems. Period!
I love writing about Tanner's methods because it changed the way I did things
and it made dentistry exciting for me. The ‘balanced jaw concept’ is not understood
by most of my colleagues, yet it is the most important change in dentistry thus far.
Dentistry will change when the concept is learned and accepted, which will be
a wonderful thing for patients. I was fortunate to have Doctor Michael Kadair
in my hometown. He is a master of Tanner's methods. He taught me Doctor
Tanner's phenomenal method of occlusal therapy. I realized that I had been
on the wrong road in treating destructive periodontal disease and TMJ problems;
I had no idea that clenching was so common and so damaging.
Problems caused by nocturnal clenching are so numerous that I call it a
syndrome. You may not think your patients clench, but all of them have some
degree of TMJ and/or dental problems, even though it may not bother them
enough to notice them. Believe it or not, clenching causes virtually all TMJ and
dental problems save dental decay, tartar formation and gingivitis; yet, in subtle
ways, even they are affected by clenching.
Clenching always affects muscles, TM joints, and teeth, but in different ways.
Involvement can vary greatly. For example, one can have major muscle
problems, such as spastic torticollis (Dystonia), but minimal TM joint and tooth
problems. Or, one can have serious tooth problems, but minimal joint and
muscle problems. It depends on what one does with one's teeth during
clenching, that is, which teeth one clench on, and how much one squeezes
(clenches).
A better name for clenching problems would be ‘Occlusomuscular Disease’
because it is a relationship between one's occlusion (bite) and muscles that
move one's jaw. But we can’t discount ‘TMJ’ as a useful name because it is the
most used name for pathology caused by nocturnal clenching.
Balancing one's jaw (bite) does not stop nocturnal clenching. Nocturnal Clenching
is unstoppable with drugs or devices. However, balancing one's jaw does stop the pain
and other problems cause by clenching. So what is a balance bite/jaw? We have
two bites. One we use when awake and another when we sleep. The awake bite is
balanced because of muscle programming. However when we sleep the muscle
programming is asleep too. The sleeping bite is not balanced because the condyles
are seated naturally, not controlled by muscle programming, consequently the bite
and condyles are not syncronized.
You can learn more by downloading "The Clenching Syndrome" (no charge).
All symptoms of TMJ related problems are caused by clenching
(while sleeping) on an unbalanced jaw. You cannot have TMJ pain when
clenching on a balanced jaw.