Bill HangDental Practitioner, Lecturer at OrthO2Health

The Case Against Drowning Dreams - William M. Hang DDS MSD

5 Apr 2013 · 2 min

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1:43

In this presentation Dr. William M. Hang describes a clinical case involving a female civil engineer who suffered chronic headaches, TMJ pain, and sleep‑disordered breathing after a decade of orthodontic treatment followed by relapse that created an unwanted dental space. After seeing multiple TMJ specialists without relief, she was referred to Dr. Hang. He reopened the collapsed dental space and continued orthodontic and restorative work. The intervention eliminated her headaches, stopped her snoring, and resolved her sleep apnea. Dr. Hang uses the case to illustrate how relatively simple orthodontic corrections can address severe craniofacial‑related pain and airway problems that are often misattributed to other specialties.

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Then you have this woman here. This overpass, this bridge that crosses the freeway right here on the Reyes Adobe Overpass, we're just a few hundred yards from it. This woman is a civil engineer who designed that bridge. And she'd had 10 years of orthodontics, plus relapse. I had a relapse. This space had opened up. She'd seen all the TMJ docs, none of them could help her, and one of them sent her to me. That's her face. She's not a happy woman. And what did she say? I buy my pain reliever by the jug at Costco. I wake thinking I'll drown or choke to death. I promised her only that I'm a Boy Scout and I'll do my best. I opened the spaces for her, her headaches are gone. Sleep apnea's gone, does not snore. When we're done, this is merely in the middle of her treatment, in reality. We weren't even done here. That's her face before. Now she has no headaches over here. And there she is after the ortho, and here she is after she's restored. I'm not gonna have her— I have a video of her talking. I don't wanna take the time to play that right now. It's not gonna show very well anyway. Now, the point here is, this is a woman who had horrible headaches for, for years, and all we did was reopen her spaces, got rid of her headache pattern and her snoring completely.