I'm a few weeks away from being an official homie on the block. I recently took a trip to Flagstaff, AZ for my first Homeoblock appointment. The dentist, Scott Darlington, was very pleasant and shared his excitement about the procedure. It's rare that people come to him for adult palate expansion, which he thinks is unfortunate because the benefits are so great -- particularly in opening up the airways. I told him I was interested to see how my craniofacial structure would change and whether or not this procedure would provide any significant benefits for me.
For this initial appointment, I had a short dental check-up followed by my mouth being filled with plaster to make forms of my upper and lower palate -- all of which was completely painless. These forms are currently being sent to a lab where they will be used to manufacture my own custom Homeblock. This usually takes a few weeks. I plan on returning to Dr. Darlington's office in Flagstaff to pick up my appliance around mid-February on my way to Wintercount. For the first few months, Dr. Darlington recommends wearing the Homeoblock as much as I can, including daylight hours. After this, I will only have to wear it at night and it will be recreated every few months to continue optimal expansion. The cost for all of this -- appointments, new appliances, and all -- is $2000. I payed up front for a substantial discount of $250, so the final cost was $1750. I'm looking forward to looking like a retainer-wearing teenager for a short time -- maybe I'll even have a cool accent like Shelly from South Park.
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24 comments:
Thanks for the update! I can't wait to see how this turns out for you! I hope the Homeoblock lives up tho the hype.
I'm so exvited you finally did it. I'm actually doing the same on september :D, so it woyld be interestin to see how it turns out for you.
I think you should wait a lot from the procedure as you are still not old, I jave advices for you:
This dental appliance work through epigbetics, so it reactivates the genes as when you were a child still growing, thus, it would be logical to eat what dr Price advised, in order to have te mineral fullness that may help you get astonidhing results, and finally, look like the ancient.
So you should eat cod oil liver, raw milk, raw butter, all fruits and vegetables crudes, seafood and all what is not refined, and what comes from animals, even i they say it's not healthy.
I finally wanted to know if the dentist was planing on getting your archs widened till you get the ancient structure or if there is a limit that should not be exceeded, and for your case, shouldn't your jaw be expanded till you can fit 4 wisdom teeth, which could be implants?
I hope this works great for you with all the changes you expect. Keep us informed.
Bye bye
Thanks for the encouragement! I plan to continue eating well and supplementing with cod liver oil and minerals while I have the Homeoblock. I'm not sure how long I am to keep the appliance in. I suppose there might be a physical limitation as to how far it can affect my facial structure. I hadn't thought of wisdom teeth implants -- I don't know if such a thing exists, but I'll look into it.
Hey Ryan,
Glad to hear the update- good luck!
I'm curious what the Homeoblock will cost you, including custom creation and dentist's fees.
Might be something worth saving for down the line. Again, good luck!
Rob A.,
Thanks for the well wishes. I forgot to include the price I am paying for the Homeoblock in the blog post. I will update it to include this information. The total cost is $2000 -- this includes everything from having the appliance made to appointments as needed to fit/create new appliances every few months. I thought this was an excellent price and well worth it hopefully!
My final bill was actually $1750 because there is a discount for paying up front.
Hey Ryan,
I was wondering why you didn't go to Dr Velfor, because it seems to me that other dentist take it as a straightening teeth appliance, and thus, are more focused on straightening teeths than anything else. For expamples, in UK i went to a homeoblock doctor who invited me to test Dna appliances, a homeoblock copy, but I saw the results weren't that good, and it was more about teeth straightening. So I think I have to find another doctor, or explain to my doctor my goal for expansion of jaws, maybe it will help me get the same results as doctor belfor's customers. What do you think?
Hi Anonymous,
As far as I know, Dr. Darlington -- my dentist -- was trained by Dr. Belfor in what the Homeoblock is all about. I'm pretty confident that he is aware that it's more than teeth straightening, but this would be something to check in with him about. Dr. Darlington's price is much more affordable for me, as well.
I'm sorry to hear that your experience wasn't satisfying with your UK doctor. Hope you find somebody to help you!
Does the Homeoblock also fix deep bites, malocclusions, overjets, gummy smiles, crossbites, severely crooked teeth and open bites? Can it shorten or lenghten a tooth, tip and rotate it?
And how do you keep it even in your mouth once the osteoblasts and osteoclasts get to work and some teeth move within 24 hours...but can't, because the homeoblock needs to be adjusted? And does the inside metal scrape along your teeth once they're on the move?
Doesn't that make progress really slow?
And don't your teeth move back into their old position when you remove the Homeoblock for the day? How does your body have the time to fill in bone when teeth constantly move back?
From what I've read it takes about 90 days to even start filling in bone, is that true? So if you constantly take that thing out...how does your body have time and space to do that?
Hi Anonymous Jan. 17th,
I have not really considered the questions about the various tooth issues you mention -- I have none of these as far as I know. If you look on Facial Development, Dr. Belfor's website, you'll see some examples of some pretty severe looking cases being fixed.
To address your second line of questioning, my dentist recommends wearing the Homeoblock 24/7 for the first few months exactly for the reasons you brought up. After the first months, the appliance is worn only at night. To my knowledge there is no metal scraping on teeth.
And, yes, progress is probably slower than other more intensive methods, such as Damon Braces (which I've been hearing a lot about lately), but I'm in no hurry and this was a cheaper route for me.
Thanks for the great questions!
Yo, did you not see my comments on your last blog post about this? Maybe I didn't make it clear enough-- THIS WILL NOT CHANGE YOUR SKULL STRUCTURE. I can't speak for children, but in adults, this is a fantasy. Here is video proof that a year of treatment didn't work for me. About $5000 later I have a non-functional bite and teeth that look completely stupid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxEsft8U20
Jared,
I hear your frustration, and I understand that the treatment you tried was not successful after the year that you tried it. I'm sorry that this was the case for you. Others' have had very different results with other appliances, such as the Homeoblock and Damon Braces -- I don't know much about the ALF lightwire and its mechanism compared to these other methods, but that certainly merits looking into. Yours is the first negative case I've heard of.
I don't believe the Homeoblock will change my skull structure to make me look like my ancestors, but I do believe it will reduce tension in my jaws, widen my palate, open up my airway and possibly lift my cheek bones a little. The differences in Dr. Belfor's patients are subtle and have to be computer analyzed by him to show the changes that take place in their faces. It's usually a matter of millimeters, which isn't much on the outside, but may make a world of difference in other, more internal areas.
Hey Ryan,
Thats why i did functional ortho... to push my front teeth forward to take the tension off my jaw and let it come forward more and have maximum chewing potential. She had to do very little widening of the maxilla and lower jaw so i don't have the weird flared looking teeth that Jared is talking about, and i have seen people with them.. it does look odd. I did pay 5,500 for mine, but i got 2000 back from insurance!! I wish i had known about the homeoblock... it looks good, and thats an amazing deal Ryan!!
Its hard to say what these procedures can do for someone with really bad facial development. Those with really narrow maxilla and nasal passageways may have to go a surgical route... actually cutting the top palate open and bone, and opening it up... hell, i think i read about this type of procedure in the wise traditions journal... Ronald Shipman did an article titled... Is it Mental or Dental.
Sometimes it all points to epigenitics, breastfeeding, and what types of food you were raised on.
troy
Hey Troy,
Yeah, everyone has different physical features, and I'm sure some people with extreme cases of craniofacial deformity do need to go the surgery route. Seems like your experience was a very positive one. What kinds of appliances did they use for your treatment? I can't remember if you already posted the answer to this elsewhere.
As far as the tipped teeth, I have read that the Homeoblock is designed so this does not happen. It must have a different mechanism than appliances like the ALF Lightwire. Looking at the before and afters on Dr. Belfor's website shows this nicely.
How we were raised is certainly huge in determining our genetic potential.
Nice to hear from you, Troy!
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for visiting my site! I'll be watching your progress as well. My teeth needed some help, too, so my ortho suggested full braces. I'm wondering if I will also get some of the more open airways, as you mention? I know my palate is expanding already. I have about four teeth that have substantial space between them now! I can not fathom how braces do this. Crazy.
Also, I noticed that you tagged this article epigenetics. Did you read the book, "Deep Nutrtion" by Dr. Shanahan? She mentions this in the book several times. It's an amazing topic! I must do a post on it.
Nice to meet you, Ryan. Good Luck!
This is pretty interesting. It's funny how much more attention I pay to teeth after reading Weston A. Price's work--it's hard not to after looking at all those pictures! I look forward to hearing what you have to say in the future about the Homeoblock. Keep it coming!
Hi Ryan how is this treatment going with you? Has the doctor recreated a new appliance for you yet?
Regarding what Anonymous jan 15 said, is there some truth to DNA appliance being a copy of homeoblock? What makes you say that? As for DNA appliance itself, the cost is too much. I wonder why it costs so much. I've been wanting to try the dna appliance treatment but been putting it off due to its cost! Probably the most expensive ortho treatment i've ever come cross. It can ran up to $8000. Might as well expend the jaw surgically!!
I'll be updating everybody sometime in the near future. So far things are good. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for sharing your experiences. How often do you have to see your dentist for maintenance/adjustments while you're using the Homeoblock? I'm trying to figure out whether I could manage to go to a Homeoblock practitioner in another state (there are none where I live). Thank you, and good luck!
Ryan, I am glad to find your blog. I have been in search of a way to permanently correct my cranial structure from several severe head injuries growing up. I experienced some amazing results from a treatment called Neuro Cranial Restructuring. I have a severe S curved Scoliosis which correcting 75% from the first treatment, and about 95% from the second. My whole body and face changed. The problem was that it wasn't stable, everything relapsed, and I ran out of money. I am searching for something like the Homeoblock or AlF lightwire to get and then get NCR in conjunction. Anyone have any suggestions?
I just called Dr. Darlington's office and they said it's a one-time cost of $3,000. Maybe the price changed or maybe I talked to the wrong person... not sure.
Anyway I was thinking about trying NCR for a face trauma, but I hear that sometimes the benefits are lost. what about craniosacral therapy, something to keep the CSF flowing? or even self-administered craniosacral or other techniques?
Anonymous May 4th,
I see Dr. Darlington once every few months. I'm due for a check-up sometime soon, but I might wait a while longer as the expansion seems to be going just fine and there's no need for a new appliance yet.
Anonymous May 9th,
Hmmm ... maybe they raised the price. I was quoted $2000, then got a $300 discount for paying up front. Maybe you should call again and double check.
I don't know much about facial remodeling through NCR and the like. I don't see why it wouldn't be worth a shot, although it might be quite costly and, as Knowmad pointed out, there may be a chance of relapse.
The most important thing about an expansion is that your tongue moves up and rests inside the upper arch, so the lower jaw doesn't have to 'hang' there anymore.
Once the tongue moved up the bite has to be corrected so that all molars including pre-molars touch comfortably in the resting position and not 1 tooth or side close down harder than the other.
One doesn't need to go any further than that, perfectly straight teeth or not.
How is your expansion going now? Any updates? Pictures?
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