Thank you Stove.  What was important during those years was that Webby
(Sabra) got to tell her story the way she needed to tell it in the hopes of
identifying the TMJ Iatroepidemic.  It is very true that during this time
Chang (Tim) also fell victim to the iatroepidemic but my individual story
was not important but yet it allowed me to play a siginificant role as a
wittness to that patient population that gets caught up with bad doctors and
even worse lawyers.  By the time that 'book' was completed Chang was what
was referred to as an end stage disease and I was given multiple surgical
opinions by who might be considered top in the field of maxillofacial
surgery here in San Diego.  The consensus between 4 surgeons was they had to
cut and that there was nothing else that could be done to treat my
condition.  3 surgeons all wanted to perform plication with ligation
bilaterally using bone anchor sutures, the 4th disagreed after reviewing dye
injected cinearthrograms and stated that the disease was so bad that the
only solution was to perform emergency bilateral condylectomies and if I did
not have them I would develop a brain infection and die.  He gave me six
months.

Needless to say I was not stupid or naive and having a sister who had more
major facial surgeries than even I can remember I was not taking any of this
lightly, but I was also very confused.  I had come to know the TMJ people
and their plight and all the terrible things many of them had experienced
and I did not want that for myself, and yet I found myself needing to trust
that these surgeons were highky skilled men, prominent in their fields, and
very well known.  On the one hand the plication didn't sound like too bad of
an option, yes an open joint procedure, but no jaw fixation afterwards and
afterall 3 of them said it was the way to go.  But the other guy, now he
just plain scared me, what did he see in those films and video that the
others didn't see, or if they saw it why didn't they consider it or report
it in their differential?

The clock is ticking, I have been given six months to have a complicated
surgery or face the prognosis of death by brain infection due to the condyle
head grooving into the cranium.  What if he was right and the other 3 were
wrong, or vice versa, what was I suppose to do?  What did Webby think, she
was beside herself, what could she tell her little brother after suffering
so much herself?  She knew all these surgeons and the one who wanted to do
the amputations stated in his written report that my sister was a well known
patient in the maxillofacial community who had been surgically mutilated.
He also stated that there would be nothing to reconstruct me with because
there was nothing FDA approved for that type of reconstruction and I would
have to stay the way following the surgery until some point in the future
when something came on the market.

So what is Chang to do, when he started this project with Webby there was
nothing wrong with him, he was a healthy adult male, worked as a journeyman
pipefitter and was as strong as an ox.  By now I was 135 pounds and had
lived on a liquid diet for three years, and was basically starving to death.
I can tell you Webby didn't buy it, but she couldn't stop me from having
life saving surgery either, it was a real dilemma, a cross-roads if you will
in our relationship and our work.  If you remember that chapter "Venturing
into the Unknown of Usenet" there was a benefit we had not seen yet, and an
'unknown' that we had not considered fully, there was a reg here in those
days by the name of Dr. Giuseppe Stradaioli and he had been trying to
communicate to this group about a device he used call the A.G.E.LK.  It was
a trying time, as many of you will remember.  Jim Boyd was meeting fierce
opposition in those days for a device he was calling the NTI-TSS, and poor
Giuseppe received less than a warm welcome, but he continued to share his
ideas and methods, just as Jim did.  We (Webby & Chang) had developed a
special relationship with Giuseppe and believed in the good he was doing in
Italy and we also believed in Jim Boyd and what he was doing.  They both
recognized long before that 'book' was ever published that there was an out
of control iatroepidmic occuring in their field of healthcare and they both
agreed with Webby & Chang and wanted to do something about it in their own
unique approach to treating people with disorders and disease affecting the
tm system.  I think it can be easily said that Jim Boyd has made a major
impact on the now identified tmj iatroepidemic affecting the USA patient
population and almost all of you are to be congratulated for embracing the
NTI and for allowing your suffering patients to benefit from what was
previously called snake oil and any number of other things.

So (i know this is long) Webby tells Chang he needs to write Giuseppe and
tell him the latest findings from the surgeon to see what he and Professor
Luksich might have to say (Dr. Luksich is a professor of Maxillofacial
Surgery in Bologna Italy and developed the A.G.E.LK) about my condition.
Its no small task to communicate with him, his language is Italian, mine
English and an interpeter is required.  His response some few hours later
was "My dear Bruce do nothing because I will arrive in San Diego in three
days to prepare your case for A.G.E.LK".  You cannot imagine what Bruce
Chang (Tim) was feeling (yes Giuseppe knew my real name) was it possible
that I could be helped?  You may be wondering why not an NTI?  As much as I
am 100% NTI, it is not for every case, and my case was not the norm, yes I
had met with Jim, afterall we were close friends, but NTI was not for me.
Jim was very aware of my case and had followed it closely, but i was in the
realm of surgeons, and its a complicated arena to find yourself in.

Needless to say it was arranged for Giuseppe and his translator to stay with
Webby at her place, and arrive they did.  We spent a week hearing lectures
every day from Giuseppe, followed by Ragu in the kitchen at noon, and then
more lectures.  He gave us the complete history of the device and freely
shared all his knowledge with us.  We made arrangements to use the clinic of
Professor Terry Tanaka and my device was manufactured there and placed into
service 7 years ago.

So i wore the device, and followed the regimen for one year, and when I
began I had less than 5mm of VO without pain.  Today I have 45mm of opening
without any pain, any residual complications, and no hole in my brain.  And
I don't know about the rest of you, although you must surely be wondering
what happened to all that disease, disease so bad of the tmj that the
prognosis was death without surgical intervention, well all I can say is
sometimes things are not as they seem.  What matters is the A.G.E.LK gave me
my life back, a life I was surely to lose had I gone with any of the
surgical options.  I have not needed any care for anything tmj related for
six years now and I am back to what I was, less a few scars I picked up
along the way.

In closing let me say this, Webby had a story to tell, and Chang was here to
help her tell her story, not his.  That is why my story does not appear
within those pages.  But all along while all of that work was going on Chang
too was silently suffering as a victim of the iatroepidemic.  I was proud to
be able to do that for her, in fact there is nothing i wouldn't do for her.
She had suffered terribly and I wanted to see her tell her story, not mine.
Would I do it again with her tomorrow?  You bet I would.

Take a look around my friends where we are today and where we were just a
few years ago.  NTI is used by almost every one of you, something that was
gawked at and belittled, because it challenged the status quo.  Think of how
much impact that little piece of plastic has had on the tmj iatroepidemic
population.  And every one of you has made a difference on what the numbers
could have been had you rejected it.  Are Jim and Giuseppe on the same page,
oh yeah, the only difference between the two devices is how they are made,
not what they accomplish. Where is my device today?  Sitting on a shelf in
Jim's lab mounted on casts of my teeth because he asked me for it and I gave
it to him.  I no longer need it and I honestly think it inspires Jim.

Who would have known when we "Ventured into the Unknown of Usenet" all of
this would happen?  We certainly didn't, but its an amazing story, with
amazing people, that have done amazing things.  It was never about Webby &
Chang, it was about finding a way to shed some light on a tragedy that we
knew could be prevented if people would just hear us out.  So my hat is off
to all of you who tolerated us during those years and for seeing the need to
do something different for your patients than you had done before.  Thank
you for making a difference in the countless numbers of lives you have
impacted because you thought outside the box.  Thank you!

Merry Christmas, Peace and Blessings,

Bruce Chang

Date: 1999/08/15

From: rp3...@worldnet.att.net (Bruce Chang)

What reasons could there be to divide and conquer the doctor/public
relationship of this newsgroup?  Especially in matters concerning the
temporomandibular joint.

Any guesses?

Tim Dixon, who posts under the name "Bruce Chang,"
blithered the following insanity in message
<37b70f19.15773...@netnews.worldnet.att.net>...

It must be because all of the world's governments and corporations are
really pursuing a single, hidden goal: to silence Tim Dixon and his sister.
The whole world, except Tim and Sabra, is in on the Conspiracy.  Can't you
tell this by the way people look at you in the street?  And people claim to
just happen by smd, but come on, who are they kidding?  They're all
operatives for the Conspiracy.  Need proof of this?  Well, they disagree
with you, and think you're a nut.  What more proof could one possibly need?
That there is a Conspiracy is obvious.  The only reason you and sister have
lasted as long as you have is that you hide out in really obscure corners of
the Internet -- places like AOL and AT&T, which almost nobody has ever
heard of.

And what's the final proof of the existence of the Conspiracy?  That when
you come to this NG and obnoxiously rant and rave for four or five years,
people ask you to shut up.  What more proof could there be that "they" are
trying to silence you?

(P.S., Good move hiding out on AT&T, by the way.  What an outlaw ISP!
They'll never find you there!)

On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 15:19:25 -0400, "Eaton T. Fores, Zugumbas fag

boyfriend" <fug...@yeah.right.sure> wrote:

More dribble from the brain of a junkie.  How's that leg doing doper