Epigenetic Orthodontics for Healthy Beautiful Faces and Smiles

Epigenetic Orthodontics, Orthopedics, Pneumapedics and TMJ

Epigenetics

The field of epigenetics interrogates the molecular mechanisms that link the genetic code and the environment, and the molecular mechanisms themselves are referred to as epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic mechanisms have now been implicated in many disease processes and in a surprising number of other areas, including newer research that suggests epigenetics could also explain intergenerational disease susceptibility not directly hardwired into our genetic material. Evidence is emerging that epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation and histone modifications, are transmitted transgenerationally, providing a potential mechanism for environmental influences on parents to be passed to their children. A BBC science programme has summarized these exciting discoveries as follows: At the heart of this new field is a simple contentious idea – that genes have a “memory”. That the lives of your grandparents – the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw – can directly affect you, decades later, despite your never experiencing these things yourself.1

Graphs
The Music of Life. Conceptually, our genetic code is like an orchestra with a group of musicians and their different instruments capable of producing notes and whole melodies independently. However, without sheet music and someone to interpret the music and conduct the orchestra, the musicians are more than likely to produce a cacophony rather than a symphony! In this analogy, the sheet music is the epigenetic code, the conductor is the epigenetic machinery instructing the musicians (who are equivalent to individual genes) when to play the notes and how to play them. The resultant sound is equivalent to a phenotype and, with any luck, is pleasing to the ear.

Symphony equals phenotype

Epigenetic Orthodontics/Orthopedics/Pneumopedics

Epigenetic orthodontics means that various human genes or combinations of the patient’s naturally-inherited genes from parents are harnessed in combination or independently with various orthodontic, orthopedic and/or pneumopedic devices like DNA appliances or AGGA appliance to modify, change or attenuate the physical location of natural teeth, jaws and airway in 3-D space during orthodontic, orthopedic and/or pneumopedic treatments, based on the concept of ‘temporo-spatial patterning.’ The term “temporo-spatial patterning” like Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) implies that the spatial organization of the teeth, jaws and airway can be mapped in 3-D space at known anatomical locations using x, y, z coordinates. The pattern in 3-D space of craniofacial structures are encoded within the patient’s genome. Dr Mirkal believes that DNA appliances and other biomimetic appliances like AGGA(anterior growth guidance) appliance are capable of modulating genetic pathways, which are effectively dormant or inactive, and are capable of restarting craniofacial development in adult patients as well as in children. In addition, abnormal patterning is corrected, in part, through the deployment of orthodontic, orthopedic and/or pneumopedic devices which may evoke natural developmental processes that improve a patient’s airway and thereby ameliorate or prevent airway issues such as snoring and other forms of sleep-disordered breathing through non-surgical airway remodeling.2

How is Epigenetic orthodontics/orthopedics/pneumopedics different from Conventional Orthodontics?
Traditionally, specially-trained orthodontists use fixed braces to apply forces to straighten crooked teeth. While many of these cases are initially treated successfully, few patients know that relapse can occur after treatment. Relapse means that a patient’s teeth will move back after treatment has been completed. The reasons for relapse are complex and remain incompletely understood. As we are not taking into account the dynamics of soft tissue, muscle forces and its effects on direction and growth vector. Addressing the muscle function is the elephant in the room in orthodontic cases which conventional orthodontics does not address. Also Conventional Orthodontics heavily relies on alignment of Teeth with little to no attention to airway, what retraction orthodontics can do to Jaws, TMJ, cervical spine (mainly C1,C2), Sleep is usually not taking into consideration. Teeth are naturally-designed to move, for example, tooth eruption in a normally-growing child. In addition, the teeth in some people erupt in a specific arrangement, producing a beautiful smile. Malocclusion is a craniofacial developmental and needed to be treated just for what it is.

We start as early at 3 years for children evaluate them for Sleep disordered breathing and first address that with a 30 day GOPEX challenge to correct muscle habits. Then once attention and intention is set on correct posture cranio-facial development with appliances is much easy. We always need to address the WHY of a problem to get to the result, otherwise it is just a fix- like your ortho retainers.

For adult we do with the help of body work, myofunctional therapy and Bio memetic appliances like the DNA appliance or Growth appliances like AGGA/RGGA we get grow you to your full genetic potential.

Dr Mirkal believes that the specific arrangement of teeth is due to certain genes. In fact, a natural process called ‘temporo-spatial patterning’ is at work. This process is the blueprint or body plan that is encoded by genes. In other words, the right and left sides of the body, the top and bottom of the body as well as the front and back of the entire body is under the control of a genetic body plan, including the teeth. Sometimes, however, the plan gets disturbed, producing crooked teeth, for example. Pnuemapedic devices- DNA, AGGA appliance, orthotropics, GOPEX can solve these problems in conjunction to other tandem care.

References:

  1. Eichler EE, Flint J, Gibson G, et al. Missing heritability and strategies for finding the underlying causes of complex disease. Nat Rev Genet 2010; 11: 446– 450.
  2. 2Feinberg AP. Phenotypic plasticity and the epigenetics of human disease. Nature 2007; 447: 433– 440.
  3. Handel AE, Ramagopalan SV. Is Lamarckian evolution relevant to medicine? BMC Med Genet 2010; 11: 73. doi:10.1186/1471‐2350‐11‐73.
  4. Horizon. The ghost in your genes. BBC [online]. URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/ghostgenes.shtml. Accessed 11
  5. Extract from Book-Epigentic Orthodontics for Adults- Dr Dave Singh