Facial pain

I can only apologise that I have not posted lately, I have had a few personal comments about this fact and so I will endeavour to get back on track.

My last post noted the up and coming visit of Dr Ron Presswood from Texas and I am pleased to say that his visit was great. His Masterclass in Portmarnock was preceded by a round of golf on the Thursday and an ITI meeting on the Thursday night. What he is now proving with his research into the treatment of facial pain is fascinating and truely goes against pretty much everything I had been taught about how teeth work together and their relationships to the muscles of the face. It is fairly controversial and I am sure many felt uneasy about it for obvious reasons but I think that the proof is simply in the use of his theories in general practice and the fact that his methods which are completely non invasive help many patients who have found no success elsewhere. I have been open to his teachings now for 2 1/2 years and thought that I was well on the way to getting things right and understanding his message, his visit to us on Saturday to treat in person 6 of our clients taught me that I had an idea of his message that worked in most cases, but I had a lot to learn to perfect it.

For any who doubt what he says and I had been as seceptical as the next, just ask the 6 clients he treated with his splint (PGA) for facial pain, clicking joints and grinding. They ALL have had improvement, they all continue to improve and 2 in particular have had their quality of life dramatically improved, within 24 hrs!! What you need to realise firstly is that many had been treated elsewhere at significant cost with no benefit…….

WHY does his splint for pain work? well Ron’s work is based on the wonderful quality of listening, he believes strongly that as dentists our patients have all the answers and that we are trained to be too DIRECTIVE! towards our patients and the treatments we choose. In this directive approach especially in the treatment of facial pain we lose our most valuable gift of information.. the experience of the patient. Watching him work was enlightening and will be career changing for me, this is a big statement I know but I found the whole experience uplifting and engaging. I think I am now ’seeing’ what he has been telling me for over 2 years now and I look forward to developing my skill in this area for the benefit of our clients. If you or any of your family or friends have been suffering from facial pain and feel that help does not exist then get in contact with us, we may have the answer.

From then we have introduced a new dentist to the practice Dr Chris Barrowman BDS MFDSRCSEd. Chris actually trained with me in Dundee and we have maintained a close relationship for many years, we have many similar interests and both to date have followed a similar path. Chris has his own practice in Scotland but has opted to do 2 days a fortnight with us in Blueapple as the workload here continues to mount. This has just been great news for us, he is a gentleman and a very talented clinician and we are blessed that he has come our way. He will be a fantastic addition to our team and many of our clients will benefit from his skill.

Most of our client base comes from the Republic Of Ireland or as we say ‘accross the border’ and lately there has been a change to their taxation in terms of the tax relief that can be claimed against certain aspects of their dental treatment. This has been reduced (in the case of higher rate tax payers) from 41% to 20%. We have had an influx of clients wishing to have treatment sorted by or brought forward from the end of 2008 and our diaries are heaving. If you have treatment planned with us or were thinking of joining the practice then please let us know as now is the time to get the ball rolling.

Finally we wish Angela (those who attend will know her well) a speedy recovery from her recent operation, our thoughts are with her.