Occlusion & Muscle Physiology in Sports Dentistry: Las Vegas
June 12, 2024 | 2:00 – 8:00 pm | In-Person at Cornerstone Esthetics
Cost: $685 | Limited to 20 people
*Note, this is a separate event from the Symposium and Team/Sports Dentist Course which will be held off property*
Measuring Muscle Physiology in Sports Dentistry
Dr. Rajesh Raveendranathan
There are hundreds of types of mouthguards or sports appliances out there. Every day a specialist wakes up one day and says “EUREKA” …. A new mouthguard!
Which one do we select?
Is it all about the design? Of course, the design is important. But what if we can provide more than just a “GUARD”? What if we can incorporate the aspect of PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT into the mouthguard? Phonetic Bite? CR Bite? Muscle Facilitation Test Bite? Dynamic Decompression Bite? K7 Bite Nm Bite? Chan Bite? Anterior Jig Bite? There are no research papers yet to prove this unfortunately.
A mouthguard that’s fabricated with the bite registration done on a “TENS-induced EMG-verified bilaterally-symmetric-isotonic-muscular-trajectory” is my go-to method as it’s evidence-based. This is how Neuromuscular Dentistry can help an athlete attain a balanced posture from head to toe. The team trainer or physiotherapist works on the posture of the athlete after the event only for the athlete to go back to the faulty posture the next day itself. This is because the importance of the maxillo-mandibular position is not given enough credence.
From something as small as a tongue-tie to checking cranial nerve functioning and confirming the sway and gait patterns; and making the necessary orthotic keeping all these in mind will help us create that perfect sports appliance for the athlete.
Key Takeaways:
- To understand the importance of muscle tonicity while registering a bite.
- To know how to confirm the bite using modern technology.
- To understand how we, dentists, are more than just TOOTH-DOCTORS!
- How dentists can objectify the occlusal imbalances that can affect posture and hence affect performance.
