Chris Kresser: Yeah, those are certainly good options, but I would also look into functional orthodontics, or dental orthopedics is really what I meant to say there. Scratch the functional orthodontics. People refer to this kind of work in different ways, but dental orthopedics is probably the best way. I think I’ve talked about this before, but in many cases because of our poor nutritional status in a modern industrialized world, we’ve seen a narrowing of the dental palate, we’ve seen a recession of the lower jaw so that our bites are no longer tip to tip, and as the lower jaw recedes, it reduces the airflow, impinges on the airway, obstructs the airway, and can cause snoring. It also can cause TMJ and a whole bunch of other systemic problems because it affects the entire nervous system and the release of neurochemicals like substance P. And so there are certain people, dentists like Dr. Dwight Jennings in Alameda and others elsewhere who are using devices like the ALF device and then other more kind of custom-made devices to basically entirely restructure the jaw. To bring the lower jaw forward, to widen the dental arch, and in doing so, this can have a really remarkable effect on everything from TMJ to snoring to sleep apnea to even Parkinson’s.
Dr. Jennings has had pretty remarkable results in slowing or halting and even reversing the progression of Parkinson’s just by adjusting people’s bite and their jaw. So it’s really powerful work and the downside is there aren’t a ton of people doing it. But if you … and at least as of now I’m not aware of any organization that has a website where you can go and look and see who’s doing it. But one thing you could search for is as a dentist that works with the ALF device, A-L-F, and if you find one that’s doing that kind of work, that could be really helpful.