The Webby knows something about this ...... and very few understand why.

Webby

If readers had been here, in smd, a decade ago ... they would not have
read about "NTI"...  

Webby

I'll add the long version of my NTI experience.

Probably about eight years ago, I first heard about the NTI device.
By that time I had watched the destruction of teeth along with all
of the other symptoms in hundreds of patients for almost 20 years
of practice.  I had tried hard splints.  I had tried soft splints.
I had tried them on the maxillary arch.  I had tried them on the
mandibular arch.  I even tried one that is still being marketed
called the 'Bite-Rite' (talk about a chew toy!).

Success with these devices had been minimal.  Most of them
would help protect the teeth, but they didn't help many other
symptoms.  Patients hardly ever *felt better*.  Without feeling
better, the splints usually ended up in a drawer somewhere.

At any rate, here comes this new gizmo called an NTI.  Boy,
was I impressed..NOT.  It was so small and seemed way too
SIMPLE to really treat the COMPLEX problems of clenching/bruxism/tmjd.

Over the next year, I would read with interest reports of dentists
I had met here and in another professional web list about how this
little NTI thing was actually helping people.  I had respect for
their opinions by the years of reading other posts that they had
written.  Even Dr. Jim Boyd was always around to explain the
device and offer his expertise (he developed the NTI).

Well, Dr. Boyd said he would send any dentist a free sample of
NTIs.  OK, nothing to loose.  Even though it's hard for me to
believe these things can be *that* good, maybe they will be
better than what I've been doing.

The free sample consisted of 5 stock NTIs.  I made one for myself
(lining it with Triad gel, instead of SNAP...I got it done, but
it wasn't easy).  I melted one with the SNAP liquid (not paying
adequate attention to the instructions, and being afraid the
acrylic might not bond well enough without a primer coat).  I
wore my new device for a few nights.  It seemed comfortable enough,
and I had no problem sleeping with it.  I had no symptoms before
wearing it, so that was about all I could determine so far.

As luck would have it, my receptionist confided in me that she had
developed severe jaw and ear pain.  She had been to her physician
(over an hour away in her home town) and he had her lined up with
an oral *SURGEON*.  I had seen and heard (much of it on smd, right
Webby?) about surgery to treat TMJ pain.  It didn't have a stellar
record of success, and often left patients in much worse condition
than before treatment.

So I said, "Melva, you might want to try one of these new gadgets
to see if it will help.  I'm not too keen on the idea of surgery."

Even with this being my first attempt at constructing an NTI for
a patient with symptoms, it was a tremendous success.  Her pain
was gone in days, she is still doing well to this date, and she
has worn an NTI every night for the past seven years.

I made one for one of my assistants (collapsed bite from molar
extractions as a kid) who had a lot of headaches and moderate
jaw pain.  She cannot imagine not having an NTI. Another seven
year success story.

My wife wears one (and sometimes two...she is a severe clencher!).
My newer assistant has worn one for 3 years, and had us make one
for her husband.  Melva's husband wears one.  I even had a dental
assistant who worked for a dentist in Kansas City come out to
my practice to get an NTI.  Three years later she came back for
another one stating that it was the best 'bite splint' she had
ever tried (and she had tried about all of them!).  BTW, I don't
advertise at all.

The only negative about an NTI is that it is not a cure for the
problems it treats.  It only works when it is worn.  It is just
a piece of plastic and it will wear (better it than your teeth).
You will have to get new ones made over time.

I have had a few patients come back saying, "I can't sleep with
this thing in my mouth."  That is pure and unadulterated BS.
They *could* if they gave it a few nights.  Most people say they
actually find that they sleep much better with the NTI than
before.

NTIs have been a tremendous positive for my practice and my patients.
Without the internet, I might still have never tried a one of them.

I think dentists and patients see this little piece of plastic and
have the same opinion that I did eight years ago.  "That little
thing can't possibly be the answer to the complexities of
tmj problems and lots of headaches."  Many of the dentists have
spent years learning how to treat 'bite problems' and 'tmj'.
How could these experts that have been teaching these courses
have missed such a simple solution?

I'm sorry, but if a dentist is not using NTIs to treat these problems
they are flat missing the boat.  These patients keep searching for
help spending massive amounts of money on drugs, MRIs, CAT scans,
and doctors visits.  An NTI is actually worth thousands of dollars by
preventing the money being wasted on other treatment.  Not to mention
the patient actually feeling better.

It is ignorance and stubborness.  For some of the "TMJ Experts",
I think they should read the childrens' story "The Emperor's New
Clothes".

Steve Fawks