Testimonials for my devices

August 11, 2023 Bliss Testimonial

I am currently 66 years old RN PhD. I have always had beautiful near-perfect teeth and, between my dentist and I, we have taken great care of them. About 10 years ago, while at work, one of my teeth suddenly felt infected or rotten. I made an emergency appointment with my dentist and begged him to pull the tooth. After his examination, he told me it was not my tooth but rather gum disease, called gingivitis. My dentist said I needed an additional dentist; specifically a periodontist. The periodontist arranged for me to have a procedure called ‘cleaning and scaling’. This multi-step procedure, accomplished by a trained technician, removes plaque from around the base of the teeth. Every three months thereafter, I was scheduled for milder versions of this ‘industrial’ cleaning for the rest of my life.  I was advised to add the use of a water pick to my existing post-eating brushing/flossing routine. I was extremely surprised to learn I would not be getting better.  I had bad breath, mushy gums and, in the roots of my teeth, I had significant and permanent bone loss. I wanted to know: “Why Me? What Did I Do Wrong?” My periodontist stated that my condition just occurs in a percentage of individuals. It was not known why some people got gingivitis and some did not. For me, the goal was ‘not to get worse’ … thus my quarterly periodontal cleanings for life.

About two years ago (2021), during one of my routine quarterly periodontal appointments, I was given the bad news. I was told that, for some of my back teeth, due to continued bone loss, I will likely be needing crowns, root canals, and/or implants soon. About this same time, I heard John Felldin use nearly identical words to describe a group of people who essentially ‘grind’ their teeth at night. As I understood it, the reason this group of people grind or ‘rock their teeth back and forth’ while asleep, is because the jaw muscles aren’t happy with where the teeth are (also known as ‘your bite’). John Felldin has been making dentures for his entire career of more than 40 years. Over that time, he’s been finding several different ways that people lose their teeth one-by-one until dentures are required. For the group of people that were similar to me, he has determined that the jaws simply want the teeth in a slightly different place for a better bite.  Because at night, while you are sleeping, your jaw muscles are grinding your teeth trying to push them to their desired location creating loose teeth and mushy gums. As a metaphor for my bite problem, John told me to think about trying to pull a post out of the ground by pushing and pulling the post until it is loose and eventually comes out of the ground; in my case, the teeth coming out of the gum socket.
So, I decided to move ahead with Mr. Felldin in correcting my bite. In less than one-half hour, John Felldin took an impression of my teeth and, 2 weeks later, I was sleeping nightly with my personalized “Bliss” device that he created in his lab. The Bliss simultaneously allowed my jaw muscles to ‘find their favorite spot’ while also holding my teeth in place so they wouldn’t ‘rock’ back and forth. Mr. Felldin advised me to wear the Bliss each night for one month; however, I wore it nightly for three months. During that time, my bite did shift and by three months, I knew precisely where my jaws wanted my bite to be.
The next step was to make a series of appointments with a dentist who, as part of their practice, uses clear aligners to move teeth. For me, it took nine months of clear aligners to change my bite while also straightening my teeth. I now look in the mirror and see beautiful teeth. I no longer have the chronic bad breath that had occurred due to mushy gums and bone decay. I have less food lodging between teeth and at the base of my gums. Hopefully, I might even see bone re-growth over the next year or two.
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to John Felldin. Thanks to his lifetime of curiosity and ‘forensic inquiry’ across hundreds, if not thousands of cases in which dentures were required, John has formulated a simple device for people like me to salvage my original teeth by locating the bite that rests my jaw muscles at night. There are no words to thank John Felldin for his dedication to breaking the cycle of people who have had a problem like mine. The procedure and devices are simple and professionally monitored at lower cost than dealing with tooth injuries and repair, or worse, replacing your natural teeth with dentures.

Karen Cox

Karen.rosie.cox@gmail.com