Dental Appliances Aren't Benign: Connecting Palate Expanders and Dentures with Whole Body Symptoms

In this (solo) episode of the Movement Detectivery podcast I wanted to share a few cases I got to work with recently that I thought were pretty cool examples of how restrictions in the hard palate and cranial bones can have a whole body impact. I share two cases: JJ who had a primary complaint of eye strain and shoulder pain, and Elizabeth, who had left hip pain. In both JJ and Elizabeth’s case history were indications that at an early age they’d had something significant causing restriction of the movement of the bones in their cranium. And in both cases we could trace these early insults to their mouth to the development of their current complaints in a completely different part of the their bodies. JJ had a worn a maxillary denture for decades, after smashing her face and losing all but one of her front teeth as a child. Elizabeth had worn a palate expander as a kid due to crowding of her teeth and never felt that it was comfortable. I love cases like this because it really allows me to use my two main tools: Craniosacral therapy and Anatomy in Motion, to make sense of how the whole body can adapt over decades to a small restriction of the motion of the facial bones. I hope you enjoy this short episode! I’d love to hear if you have any personal experience with wearing a dental appliance or have had dental history that you suspect had an impact on how things feel in your body- symptoms or movement limitations, today. Please shoot me an email or message if you’d like to chat!Here are a few things I referenced in this podcast: The image below is a great cross section of cranial anatomy, showing the connection of the maxilla, vomer, and sphenoid bones. Notice how the sphenoid connects with the occiput, which connects to the neck, which connects to the spine, etc… Showing us how movement restriction within the cranium can have an impact on the body below if allowed enough time for the body to adapt. Cast partial maxillary denture: The image below is a decent representation of what JJ was wearing- A metal cast of her hard palate with partial denture. Although hers included more metal coverage of the surface of her upper palate. Palate Expander: I don’t know the exact variety that Elizabeth wore, but the photo below is the essence of where it sits in the hard palate, so you can visualize it.Barral Institute Listening Technique: The video below is from a presentation by osteopath Ron Mariotti, speaking about what listening technique is. Thanks for reading Movement Detectivery! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Movement Detectivery at monvolkmar.substack.com/subscribe