The Neurocranial Vertical Distractor - How Dentists Can Fix Broken Brains

How Dentists Can Fix Broken Brains

Dr. Stack, along with a few other practitioners in his field, has discovered that orthodontics and dental appliances not only can treat misaligned bite, temperomandibular joint syndrome (a cause of severe jaw pain), ear problems, snoring, sleep apnea, and headaches, but also Parkinson's disease, Tourette's syndrome, and torticollis (twisted neck), and many others.

With a Removable dental appliance called a neurocranial vertical distractor, Dr. Stack even treats neurological conditions by "rerouting" nerve impulses in ways that compensate for conditions typically  considered brain diseases.

Parkinson's disease is a condition of uncontrollable movements and insurmountable inability to move. Usually affecting only one side of the body, at first, there may be constant motion in one hand similar to picking up a pill. The movements occur without thinking and uncontrollably, but they stop as soon as the affected muscles are involved in a voluntary movement. Actor Michael J. Fox, for example, demonstrates an extraordinary ability to keep his major muscles in controlled motion in order to prevent uncontrolled motion.

At another stage of the disease, Parkinson's is associated with paralysis. People who have Parkinson's may simply "freeze" in place, until an outside stimulus starts the muscles working again.

There is general agreement in medical science that Parkinson's is associated with unusual metabolism of dopamine in a region of the brain known as the substantia nigra. At some point most patients who have Parkinson's are given a prescription for L-dopa to replenish the dopamine in the brain, but this results in short-term improvement soon followed by acceleration of decline.

Tourette's syndrome is a condition that can cause its sufferers to have to endure repetitive muscle movements and vocalizations they cannot control. People who have Tourette's may sniff, snort, curse, use racial epithets, preen, pick, twitch, or bat their eyelashes involuntarily to the point of exhaustion. Symptoms can appear 24 hours a day.

At first, doctors thought that Tourette's syndrome was a rare, psychological condition. Nowadays, Tourette's syndrome is considered to be a relatively common genetic condition. Scientists assume that it must cause changes in brain function, but research has not been able to associate the condition with any one area of the brain or any one biological process in the brain.

Torticollis is a condition of involuntary contractions of the neck muscles, causing unusual postures and movements of the head. The condition is also termed cervical dystonia, torsion dystonia, and wryneck. It is usually thought to result from sprains, strains, fractures, and dislocation of the disks of the cervical (neck) spine. It can also result from serious upper respiratory infections.

Dr. Stack treats all of these manifestations of neurological disease with a simple device, something like a retainer, that gradually lifts one jaw to be in line with the other. He claims and his patients verify remarkable results. But why in the world should a neurocranial vertical distractor actually work?

How Physical Manipulation Reprograms the Central Nervous System (Sometimes)

Dr. Stack tells his patients that he is "results oriented." Fitting treatment to the niceties of academic theory seems not to be high on his list of priorities. But first let's take a look at the underlying principle in mainstream medicine that explains how treatments work:


In Parkinson's disease, Tourette's syndrome, and torticollis, and many other neurological conditions, mainstream science maintains that an abnormality in the brain results in "broken circuits" between the control center in the brain and the activity center in the rest of the body.  The disconnect between brain and body can occur anywhere along the path from brain to central nervous system to muscle, and it can have a physical cause, such as an injury, or a physiological cause, such as a toxin, nutritional deficiency, infection, or genetic abnormality.

Most of modern neurology focuses on repairing or compensating for the "wiring" of the brain so that useful nerve signals can be sent to the parts of the body that need them. The cutting edge of this line of research literally involves creating digital circuits to replace malfunctioning nerve circuits.

Dr. Stack's treatments and similar therapies, however, work on a different principle. That principle is:


Dr. Stack's dental appliance adds a tiny amount of physical stimulation to the nerves that flow through the face. The nerves in the jaw add the message "I'm being raised ever such a tiny bit, I'm being raised ever such a tiny bit," over and over and over again to all the other nerve traffic traveling through the face. This little bit of extra information can be enough to override the nerve signal that causes a tic, or a twitch, or a tremor.

Dr. Stack keeps adjusting the dental device every few days to every few weeks to ensure that a slightly different nerve message keeps being transmitted. Eventually, the nerves involved in the symptoms of Parkinson's, Tourette's, torticollis, or other conditions the Dr. Stack treats wire together so that the symptoms of the brain disease in the rest of the body are permanently suppressed. This is done without surgery, without implanting electrical devices, and without medications.

The approach to treating chronic neurological conditions developed by Stack and colleagues is not unique in the medical world. Countless Parkinson's patients have devised their own forms of exercise to keep their abilities to maximize muscle control. Others use one of several systems of physical exercise to maintain control over their muscles.

People who have Tourette's syndrome often learn that certain visual cues or certain kinds of sounds set off their symptoms. Sometimes they learn how to avoid the triggers for their tics, twitches, and vocalizations. Many people who have torticollis or cervical dystonia benefit from simple massage therapy, or even by giving massages to others.

The next few articles in this series will examine how Dr. Stack's methods apply to specific, common, hard to treat neurological conditions. These articles will explain the nuts and bolts of how the neurocranial vertical distractor helps Dr. Stack's patients get well, and how similar techniques get similar results when applied the right way.