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Weight Loss and Orthodontic Jaw Wiring

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ORTHODONTIC JAW WIRING (OJW) DENTAL PROFESSIONALS JOIN HEALTHCARE TEAM

by Dr. Ted Rothstein
Orthodontist, Brooklyn,NY

Excerpted from an article by Dr. Ted Rothstein

Orthodontic Jaw Wiring: The Dental Professional’s Role in Weight Control for Compulsive Overeating Leading to Obesity: an article submitted to JADA (The Journal of the American Dental Association, February 5, 2009)

The cover story in the November, 2010 issue of the JADA (Journal of the American Association of Dentists), for the first time in history published an article related to the reason why dentists have been reluctant to provide their expertise to the overweight and obese. The results of the survey  indicated that 4% of dental professionals are already providing services to the obese. Many more would if obesity were shown to be a cause of some dental diseases (indeed even now some studies show that gum disease is correlated with obesity). However,  most dentists have refrained from providing their services for the simple reason that they fear their patients may find them "judgmental".

Here is my experience: if we let the obese know about our changing attitudes toward them they will come to us, as my own experience and research have proven.

"Orthodontic Jaw Wiring (OJW): The Dental Professional’s Role in Weight Control for Compulsive Overeating Leading to Obesity" is an article concerning a new service that dentists should consider providing to obese patients who seek them out. Given that we are the caretakers of the mouth and uniquely empowered with skills and mechano-therapy to provide services to the overweight, it is our obligation and responsibility as part of a health-care team to provide our expertise to the overweight heading towards obesity and to those who have already reached that state.
OJW patients will applaud and praise our efforts to help them; they will not begrudge us if they regain the weight post-treatment, a problem encountered with every weight-loss method without exception. Weight loss is not the OJW provider’s prime responsibility.

OJW providers are primarily responsible for the maintenance of the health of the TMJ, dentition and gingiva during the period of being wired. If members of the dental profession step forward and recognize their right and responsibility to care for selected patients who meet the criteria of being overweight or obese, based on the diagnosis of the patient’s physician, the leaders of the ADA and AAO will be obliged to clearly define the dental professional’s role in providing this service just as they did when problems of snoring and sleep apnea first came to the attention of dental professionals.
 

I am confident that in time OJW will become a service that members of the dental community will provide with satisfaction in their own communities. I have no doubt that there will never cease to be members of the dental and medical community who look upon OJW with a jaundiced eye. However, when one considers the safety, the effectiveness and  the minimally invasive nature of  this approach to weight control it is without doubt a method  that some would benefit by using.  it is by no means a panacea. Patients must be carefully selected who will dedicate themselves passionately to the method. This approach is not for the faint-hearted.

In parting, I would like to add that my very first OJW patient (1997) who had just moved to NY from CA assured me that many dental professionals there were already offering this service (not so). However, I believed her. So I owe my debut into OJW to her. “Eureka” (I have found it), the motto of California).