Connecting Heads

Myobrace Introductory Course, 12 October 2014, BDA, 64 Wimpole Street, London

October 23, 2014 at 2:42 pm Leave a comment

35 delegates attended this one day introductory course. I had been invited as a guest by Dr Chris Farrell, the designer of Myobraces. Carole Meredith, director of the Osteopathic Children’s Centre, London, also came as a guest.

Chris was accompanied by Dan Hanson (Townsville clinic) and Niels Hulsink  ( trainer based in Waalwijk, Netherlands) who each took a turn to introduce their particular role in the Myobrace system. The range of appliances, which look rather like mouth guards, aim to correct aberrant muscle function and jaw discrepancies.
The design has evolved from the philosophy of the Frankel and Biobloc appliances and are intended ideally to be used in the early mixed dentition. However, they can also be used in older children and adults but usually with less orthopaedic correction.

One version has been developed to treat snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea.

The following day I met with Chris to discuss the best way of introducing this system into the UK. It has successfully been introduced into over 100 countries including Russia & China. However, in the UK and the United States fixed braces in the teenage years are perceived by parents, patients and the NHS as being the Gold Standard of care.

In the US this system has recently been included in the dental undergraduate curriculum at the following universities: Loma Linda, Mount Sinai and Tufts.

As chance would have it, I had a meeting at Guy’s Hospital that very same afternoon with Professor Mark Woolford, Associate Dean (education), at the request of Professor Dianne Rekow, Dean of King’s Dental Institute. He has agreed that members of BSSCMD should give a presentation to the final year undergraduates after their final examinations. The title would be Beyond BDS. The following topics might be included: Aetiology of Malocclusion, Sleep Disorders, Movement Disorders and Pre-Orthodontic Treatment with the Myobrace System.

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