Is K-Dentistry next Korean wave?

By Lee Chang-sup

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Female professional golfers Pak Se-ri and Shin Ji-ae are in a slump these days partly due to distorted jaw contact, or overbites.

These golfers definitely may not feel good in The Contact of their teeth and jaws. This imbalance affects the harmonized movement of their bodies, a crucial element for hitting a good shot.

Unfortunately, they have yet to realize this.

Shin treats her backache with the help of an Oriental medicine doctor. The backache may come from the misalignment of their teeth and the lower and upper jaws. The two ladies should first go to a dentist.

For the first time in Korea, two dentists led by Dr. Moon Hyung-joo, have theorized on the influence of overbites or under-bites, namely dental occlusion, on general health. Their work is to be published in the U.S. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine next month. The journal is one of the four major publications in the United States.

There have been many allegations and speculations over the influence of dental health on the human body. This time, these speculations and allegations are the subject of scientific scrutiny.

Look at the mirror and check whether your jaw is in a proper shape. One out of every four Koreans has a problem in teeth and jaw contact. This disharmony ― the result of decay ― could make people feel dizzy, suffer from ringing in the ears, headaches, and pain in the nose and head.

People suffering from a bad bite may also suffer from such symptoms as the blurring of vision, earache, a staggering gait, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and blackouts.

Parents should not just scold a child when he or she is sitting awkwardly or uncomfortably. They should first check whether their child has a bad contact between their teeth or jaws. This dental malocclusion, or ill-contact of teeth or jaws, impedes proper body posture, body balance and physical performance.

The jaws are the only part of the human body that moves simultaneously either to the left or to the right.

The left and right legs, eyes and hands, can move independently and in opposite directions. The left and right part of the jaw moves together in the same direction.

The jaw has nine out of the 12 core human nerves and muscles passing through it. This means disorders in the jaw influence the human body negatively.

The jaws are located central to the brain and spine. Namely they are the control tower for the activity of nerves, muscles and blood vessels in the human body from head to toe. Even in sleeping, the jaw is working. Gnashing teeth while sleeping is also evidence of bad contact.

This occlusion disorder, often leads to abnormal patterns of muscle activity, resulting in pain in the neck muscles, as well as kidney and liver dysfunction.

People cannot maintain proper body function without a necessary systematic synchronization of the head and jaw muscles with muscles in other parts of the body.

Tooth loss is a risk factor for postural stability. An ill-contact of the teeth might be a predisposing factor for falls in older people. This means elderly people who suffer from the misalignment of teeth or jaws, namely dental malocclusion, are at a higher risk of falling than those whose dentition has been maintained.

Dental examinations should be included in medical checkups for the elderly, especially those with symptoms of dementia.

What should patients do to improve The Contact of their teeth? They should wear mouth guards or occlusal splints. Coaches advise sports players to wear them during competition in order to increase performance in such sports as baseball, long-distance running, shooting and football. Proper teeth clenching plays an effective role in the enhancement of sports performance.

Moon also advises elderly people to wear them for physical fitness. Many seniors have died after falling while walking. People falsely thought this was due to weakening of the legs. The fundamental symptom may be that the disharmonized contact of teeth and jaws may have weakened one's leg muscle, he said.

He boasts that Korea is one of the advanced countries in dentistry. He expects the boom of K-Dentistry to continue like the ongoing fever in K-Pop and K-Cosmetic Surgery.

Moon said he cured a severe hand tremor in a 20-something student through the adjustment of his teeth and jaws. Before the patient consulted him, he had visited neurologists and psychiatrists to treat the shaking. Their conclusion was that the origin of his tremor could not be traced. Finally, he found that the disorder was the direct result of his bad teeth clenching habit during a visit to the dentist. His hand tremor disappeared miraculously. Moon said that the bad contact of his teeth distorted the jaw movement. This, in turn, negatively affected the nerves of his hand, thus causing the shaking.

Everybody knows the adage that healthy teeth are one of the five human blessings. Now the adage should change to this: Good contact of teeth is crucial for human blessing. It is treatable now.

Lee Chang-sup is the chief editorial writer of The Korea Times. He can be reached at editorial@koreatimes.co.kr