Professional Use Instructions

In this clip, Dr. Steven Olmos explains the instructions for medical professionals who offering the Aqualizer® as treatment.

DR. STEVEN OLMOS: Many of our patients will present with grinding, clenching, parafunctional activity that either is producing wear on the dentition on muscular dysfunction symptoms in the head and neck. What we need to do is be able to discern whether or not there are some dental treatments that may be effective for them. Decompression of the jaw joint using the Aqualizer will help us and be able to discern whether or not the origins of this of this parafunctional activity is coming from the jaw joint inflammation, or whether, perhaps, an airway problem. So with the proper prescription of the either low, medium, or high volume Aqualizer, we can get the optimum decompression airway that will establish a better function that, in turn, will cause muscular relaxation, and therefore, your patient will have less facial pain and less clenching. Now, of course, we must be careful. We're going to ask the patient not to clench and bite into these bags. They must rest, and we're really trying to reestablish rest or comfort. These patients are in a sympathetic state, which means increases tonus due to these inflammatory situations, and so, we're basically trying to calm that nervous system down. Remember, the only time it's normal for our teeth to touch is when we swallow. Any other time that dentition is touching other than that is a pathologic relationship. And so, therefore, if we have inflammation in our jaw joints, and every 30 seconds, we swallow, that's the teeth coming together at that point and, of course, that's the closest this condyle to the - - , which is just poking into the inflammation, so that's why it's key to have your patient wear this Aqualizer during the day as much as possible, remove when they have presentations or things they need to do, and certainly not eat with it, and at nighttime, if possible. Now, if the patient has severe pain, back pain, any pain of any severity in any location, or a serious airway problem, then, of course, they may be able to bite right through this device, which is a clear indication, in itself, that further evaluations may be necessary.