If you think about it, the mouth is where it all begins. It is where you eat, breathe, and talk. It is so obviously important for living, yet for years we have moved things around in the mouth for health reasons and for aesthetics, but without much thought about its effect on all other systems in the body. Now, this is all changing.
General medicine got to this sooner. Years ago, a physician who suspected heart disease would probably not refer the patient to a gum specialist. The same went for diabetes, pregnancy, or just about any other medical condition. Times have changed. The past 5 to 10 years have seen exponential interest in possible links between mouth health and body health.
But most of this focused on oral health or, its opposite, oral disease, and how inflammation and bacteria in the mouth can affect the rest of your body.
Oral System Biology, or OSB, is different and focuses on something more basic: the oral structure. That is to say, how the teeth, gums and particularly the tongue are situated in the mouth, naturally affects your eating, speaking and, most importantly, your breathing.
In other words, this is your mouth’s “framework.” The structures and shapes in your mouth are meant to hold the tongue in a normal place for normal function, and thereby keep the throat open. When that framework becomes distorted – perhaps from bone loss, missing teeth, distortions in the mouth, or other changes – we say that the oral structure is out of balance.
The interaction between the oral system and teeth is profound, with even changes in one tooth, like a crown or implant, having a great potential impact. When you have this imbalance, and we create for you a customized device that incorporates OSB technology, then the body responds as if the normal framework of the mouth has been restored.
Many times, this kicks in the body’s natural reflexes that signal to the rest of the body that everything is okay now – the tongue is held naturally in place and no more adrenaline is generated by the throat closing. The body can relax. Any compensations that were helping to keep the throat open, but may have also caused other symptoms – like headaches, jaw pain, poor posture, daytime fatigue, on-edge feelings, and otherwise – can resolve. Needless to say, in many cases, quality of life is greatly improved!
What happens when your oral system is out of balance?
Thankfully, the body will do whatever it needs to do to support ease of swallowing, speaking and, most importantly, breathing. If the tongue is not being held normally, then compensations will show up. For instance, if someone receives a crown that is larger than the tooth it replaced, it is not unusual for a patient to feel agitation, pain or just even an awareness that something is not right. When OSB is applied in these situations, routinely the related symptoms resolve, and quite often this is immediate.
Typically, people with imbalance in the oral system have forward head posture, as the body has altered posture to compensate for the problem. Once the oral system is supported, whether it be by adjusting a tooth or using an oral device, typically muscles relax, and posture self-corrects. This is not unlike the understanding that if someone has a rock in their shoe, it can alter posture and cause pain. Remove the rock or, in our case, the need for the body to compensate by supporting an upset oral structure, and posture improves – and the pain goes away!
Do you have forward head posture and want to know if it may be related to dysfunction in the oral system? Try this simple test: Sit or stand with your normal posture – not the one we go to when someone is looking, but instead where you are most comfortable. For many of us, this may be described as slouching. Take a deep breath. Notice how easy it is to breathe. Now talk. Notice how easy it is to talk.
Okay, now sit up with “perfect” posture. It may help to put your back against a wall to accomplish this. Your head also should be back and in line with your shoulders. Take a deep breath now. Talk. What do you notice? For many people with an imbalance or upset in the oral system, they will notice that it is much easier to breathe and talk with their head forward, in a default posture. Now you know why. Once the oral system is supported – which we do with an oral appliance that incorporates the OSB technology – the body no longer needs to maintain the forward posture. Muscles will relax, and posture comfortably improves.
FCR Health Solutions fabricates oral devices using over 60 years of combined experience in this science, and teaches dentists, so they too can have the predictable and profound effects on their patients that we’ve seen for over two decades. When devices are made with a clearer awareness of how the oral system and teeth interact, patients notice, and many times even while in the chair during the first fitting. Consequently, they want to wear their oral devices – no more lectures that they really should! They routinely report less pain, greater ease of breathing, no more snoring, a general feeling of being more relaxed, and much more.
Where did OSB come from?
OSB was discovered by Farrand C. Robson, D.D.S., and he spent the last twenty years of his life uncovering the connection between oral balance and the body, and teaching this information to other doctors.
Doctor Robson discovered that the tongue’s contact with oral structures and how the tongue sits in the throat and mouth, directly impacts the entire body. Swallowing, speaking and breathing are all dependent on the tongue being held normally in the mouth.
When the tongue is not held normally in the mouth and it goes backwards in the throat, we can feel on-edge. Often, we describe this feeling as “running on empty,” stressed, overwhelmed, “just not feeling right,” irritable, disconnected or “like something is wrong.”
Unfortunately, these on-edge feelings can be confused with stress, which they are not.
Is it for me?
Are you experiencing on-edge feelings and want to see what this therapy might do for you? Do this exercise. With your mouth slightly open and jaw slightly forward, let the tongue rest on the teeth. Take a deep breath and relax. You may feel muscles relax as this is done. Are you feeling less (fill in the blank – stressed, irritable, etc.)? If so, then it is likely that the on-edge feelings you have are a matter of dysfunction in the oral system and not of psychological origin. Want to find out? Call us to find your nearest OSB practitioner for an evaluation.