TMJ, Malocclusion, Lyme Disease, Substance P, and Overall Health

While watching a video concerning malocclusion, TMJ and Substance P, I came across some extremely interesting information that may be helpful to patients with tickborne illness. I will leave the link to this video at the bottom. The speaker being interviewed, Dr Dwight Jennings ( a neuromuscular dentist), shared some fascinating ideas and facts. Here are some of the facts he shared.When someone's bite is misaligned, the body produces a huge amount of substance P, which can cause systemic inflammation in the body. Many things can increase substance P in the body but TMJ/ misalignment is a major factor. Dr. Jennings says that 95% of Lyme patients have TMJ issues......a very high correlation. Systemic inflammation from the substance P allows the spirochete to grow. Substance P opens up cell membranes wide enough to allow the spirochete into the cell. Substance P also controls the collagen/ ligament matrix. If your substance P is high, you don't make high grade collagen. This may be one reason why Lyme patients are so hyper-mobile and have problems with ligament tears and repair.

The trigeminal vascular system is also affected by misalignment of the jaw.
Lack of blood flow to the frontal cortex can be a result. Correcting the misalignment can be helpful in strengthening the immune system, along with other modalities that target substance P, such as cayenne pepper, etc. If a person feels that misalignment is a problem for him, then it is extremely important to find the right type of dentist which offers the proper treatment. One does not just want to align the teeth...but it's the alignment of the actual jaw that makes the difference. The video below speaks to the issue of what type of dentist specializes in jaw alignment. Your top front teeth and your bottom front teeth need to meet together tip to tip. Many dentists think that the bottom front teeth should be slightly in back of the front top teeth but this is not so. Our ancestors' teeth met tip to tip because of their natural indigenous diet. Today our jaws are so malformed that most of us no longer have adequate room for all of our teeth. The parent's diet determines the shape and size of the child's skeleton.

Parkinson's, Autism,  Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, IBS, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome can often be helped by aligning the jaw.

Many people of the baby boom generation have underdeveloped jaws due to their parent's eating more refined foods than previous generations. The fact that many baby boomers were NOT breast fed also plays a prominent role in why all of our teeth do not fit into our jaws. The jaws can be expanded...even in adults....with the proper devices. Check out this hour video. I found it fascinating!