I saw a dentist who specializes in TMD the other day, and he said that my bite is way off. This contributes to my TMD symptoms, and no matter what I do, I will not get better without correcting the bite. He said that my face is very narrow, and that he would like to widen the palate and correct the bite. He said that he feels my spaciness, brain fog is related to a lack of oxygen
in my sinus cavity and brain because of the pressure in that area, because of the bite problems and cranial misalignment. He recommended braces made of nickel and acrylic. I have been measured to have high levels of mercury so of course am scared to put any metals in my mouth. But some of what he said made sense, as far as my bite. I don't know what to do.

What an awful situation. Braces are very bad! nickel, all of it is highly toxic and alongside mercury is a nightmare.

I wish there was some other way for you to have this done with non nickel braces.... but if he feels there is a real structural problem that is at least some of your problem, what else can you do?

i can only suggest to you to do what you can diet wise and be rigid about it and try and get your body into some positioin to gain some further strength and see if you improve.

It's all you have control over is the diet and supplements.

Do you have amalgams still in your teeth? Braces made me severely ill, I have to tell you that. I too have a narrow mouth/chin and you sound a lot like me, I have TMJ also.

Braces made no difference to me at all, and in fact made my health worse, but in your condition, it maybe different and the dentist may know what he's talking about, so I would never undermine him and what he's saying.

The problem is the galvanic activity between the metals in the mouth, plus your ongoing toxicity as well as this.

I had braces at age 15 and this is when my life changed for the worst and never came right. But I was not on a candida diet at that time, so I assume my body was not able to fight any of it and it was enough for it to succumb. I believe I must have already been ill, but didn't realise it until this final straw occured.

This is why I suggest the candida diet, and if you have amaglams, I suggest having them replaced so there is less galvanic activity with the braces. Though you will still have issues, which is why you'll need to be rigid with your diet to give your immune system all it needs to cope.

Many people have had or have braces, it is those of us who have problems with our immune system that get the over the top reactiosn and toxic issues. So you have to give your immunity every chance possible to cope with that if you decide to go through with it and get braces. Can you ask if there are one that are non metal or nickel free? To try and lessen this toxicity?

Thanks for the reply Bex. I still have my amalgams and think if I go forward with the braces, I will have to have the amalgams out first. Honestly, the thought of amalgams out, braces in, all of it scares me. I have worn an appliance made of nickel for some time, and was never sure if it bothered me. I started to wear it again two days ago, and ended up with a horrible migraine last night. So I am not going to jump into doing this. I am scared to death of having something put into my mouth that I cannot remove. But I can tell that when I purposely change my bite, I do become mentally clearer so there is something to what he says. He asked me to ask my dr. about allergies to nickel and acrylic for me. He does not know what other materials he could use for the type of procedure he is recommending. He does use other materials for braces of other types, but not for what he wants to do to my mouth.

So for now I guess I'm not doing anything. I'm going to speak to my dentist about possible amalgam removal in a couple of weeks and I will talk to him about this then too.

I would at least get a second opinion before commiting to something like that, you can never be too sure if the dentist is just trying to make money out of you or if it's really needed...
Especially with regards to dental braces I have heard about a lot of hard sells.

Andrea,
I am in the exact same position as you are right now but I don't get clear headed when I correct my bite. My bio dentist never said anything about a correct bite helping my spaciness.
I can barely get a spoon in my mouth right now with my TMJ and no dentist will touch me to take the mercury out until the TMJ is addressed.
I had braces at 15 as well and this is where my clicking and popping all started. I remember distinctly the orthodontist saying my bite was perfect before the braces and now my jaw is all messed up.
I am also allergic to nickel and this all started within the same time frame as the braces were put on. I can't wear any jewlery.

I'd get a second opinion as well and ask about getting a splint or orthosis you could wear, this can help immensly.

Hope all works out well for you

I wanted to add Andrea. My braces were put on by a "regular" orthodontist. As I understand my biological dentist would correct my bite in relation to my skull so this would be a totally different than just getting braces.
Also to correct the bite my bio dentist wants a cranial evaluation,skull x-rays and neuromuscular work up. Then they would decide what to do.
Doesn't look like a quik fix does it?

Andrea, I appreciate this dentist specialises in that area, but is he biologic? Does he take into account the toxic issues of the amalgams and the nickel etc?

regular dentists do not really take any of that seriously. Though he maybe right in regards to the other problems, i'm concerned he may not realise you are very toxic/sensitive and he may be adding a load to your already burdened system and not realise he's doing this.

This is very difficult on you. Not knowing what to do or what to do first or when. I wonder if you can get onboard a reputable biologic dentist to help out here? Or at laest in regards to amalgam replacement maybe, and you could tell him about the other dentist's recommendation of having braces to correct some structual problems in your mouth that maybe contributing to some health issues also.

Whatever you do, definitely take care of the candida in the meantime. This may help lift you at the very least while you decide the other things. I know it's all very upsetting and stressful. I've never seen so many people go through so much as I have on this forum (or other toxic forums). It's just mindblowing. It's like one trial after another and you wonder how people manage to keep going.

Thanks for your input everyone. I am speaking with my biologic dentist in two weeks about all of this. The dentist I spoke with regarding the braces is actually not a tradtional orthodontist. He is a dentist that practices something called "functional orthodontry" and works on correcting the palate and bite, as it relates to the bones in your skull. He said this should also should help with my forward head posture and neck and shoulder alignment. He has treated a lot of kids with ADHD and it makes a big difference in their spaciness. One of his big areas of specialty is TMD. He is going to complete a workup as you described in one of the posts. I had gone to another dr. for a long time who gave me a splint and trigger point injections up and down my neck, head, shoulders, jaw, and used a tens unit, etc. It did help with the fogginess, etc. but all came back in a short period of time. I ran into a dentist that I know who spoke to me about how if your bite is off, your problems will always come back and recommended I go to this person to look into my bite. Like I said, what he described as my problem makes sense for me given many of my symptoms. And he is also a big name in his field. He did tell me that he is happy I never had braces before and that I have all of my teeth. He said that when orthodontists pull your teeth, it makes your jaw even narrower and for people prone to TMD this is a nightmare. He said my situation could actually be a lot worse. My integrative dr. who recommends all of my vitamins and is talking about chelation with me also said he feels many of my symptoms are because of my TMD and I need to have this addressed. But I am not rushing into doing anything because of my fear of getting worse from the other factors. I will see what my biologic dentist says, talk to my integrative dr. again, and probably get a second opinion on the braces as well.