In preface to stating the purpose of this blog, please allow me to set the stage: I am a 55 year old man as of this writing. I am in need of orthodontic work. I had braces as a child, but as the years have progressed, my mouth has regressed. My teeth have gradually again become overcrowded, angled inward, crooked, and overlapping in places. The space in my mouth has been reduced such that my tongue now constantly touches the back of my top front teeth. This all can be expected to get worse as the years progress and middle age leads into old age. My dentist previously recommended the Invisalign system however I had already spent my dental budget for the year and was saving money to get Invisalign sometime in 2011.
I was at my dentist's offices in November 2010 for a cleaning and checkup. I spoke with my dentist, mentioning I was looking toward finally beginning Invisalign in the coming year. However, she was very enthusiastic about a new form of orthodontia called Epigenetic Orthodontics (let's shorten that to EO) which utilizes a dental appliance called the DNA Appliance (both of which will be described in fuller detail in following blog entries.) I am not a scientist, but have a fair layman's understanding across a range of scientific subjects, and was very interested and excited about the principals of EO, which involves the activation of bone stem cells to grow and shape the upper and lower jaw bones in a manner that is controlled by the DNA Appliance, thus reshaping your mouth via bone growth and allowing your teeth to naturally move back into alignment.
But I needed some time to research and think about it before committing to it, as well as needing time figure out how to finance it.
And so I lead into the purpose of this blog: While I was able to find a large number of academic and research citations as well as plenty of good material from the inventor of the process (Dr. Dave Singh), I could not find anecdotal experiences from patients. (I'm assuming this is because these methods are just too new.) So I thought I could perhaps be of some service to other people who, like myself, are searching the internet for real-life patient anecdotes relating to Epigenetic Orthodontics and Dr. Singh's DNA Appliance.
In this blog, I am beginning before the very first procedure or treatment. As treatment progresses, I will attempt to update and explain things. Hopefully, some people who are potential EO patients will find this of value in their own search for knowledge on this subject.
I think it is important to add that readers need to remember that what I write will be strictly my thoughts as a patient and layperson. I am not a scientist or doctor or an authority of any kind on Epigenetic Orthodontics or the DNA Appliance. I can offer my thoughts, experiences, and what I believe to be true but there will always be the possibility I have misunderstood or unknowingly misrepresented something.
Thus, please do not consider this blog a source of scientific, dental, or orthodontic facts. I will try to convey what I think is factual, but if any factual details are especially important to you, please use due diligence and check them via scientifically or medically authoritative sources.
