To bring the skull back to its ideal position it is necessary to substitute the missing dental height. To do that it is necessary to make use of the Rectifier, to be placed on the lower dental arch.
This tool provides the missing dental height, which in turn, at the moment of occlusion, exerts an opposing force to the forces that push the skull down.
For the Rectifier to work, it is important to place it in such a way that it creates a new occlusion in place of the old one. The new occlusion has to be captured when the individual is in a perfectly upright position (to do this it is necessary to be seated). In this position the new bite is taken and impressed onto casting resin. This process is called registration.
From this moment on the individual is forced by the plate to return to a correct position. This procedure has to be repeated approximately every 12 to 17 days, to update the occlusion. The interval between one registration and another depends on the progress of the treatment. Little by little, as the therapy progresses, the occlusion tends to change more and more. This change signals the return of the skull to its ideal position.
As we have written, the role of the Rectifier is that of providing the right dental support to the skull and to bring it back to its correct position. In fact, the Rectifier offers the skull precisely that support that the teeth are not able to give.
Nevertheless, even if the Rectifier offers an immediate support to the skull, the spine does not straighten itself immediately, but rather it requires a certain period of time to do this that varies according to a number of variables: age of the individual, severity of the displacement, life style, use of adjuvants, and what shape the musculature is in.
In fact, as we have seen, the new position of the skull imprinted on the resin tends to bring the skull back to its correct skeletal axis. As a result, the spine is orientated to the symmetry and natural physiology of its curves. But the musculature needs much more time to return to symmetry. This is why it is said that the symmetry of the skeleton is achieved first and that only afterward, after a much longer period of time, the symmetry of the musculature. It happens this way as the muscles follow the bones.
The muscles need more time to become symmetrical as in the period between one modification and another they are called upon to do heavy work. In fact, during this process, while some tend to extend, their antagonists tend to contact.
In a few words, they have to “decompensate”, or, they have to go through an inverse process to the muscular compensation that occurred during postural decay and, consequently, with the collapse of the skull.
Very important in this process, especially for more complex cases, is learning to listen to the feelings and sensations that one’s own body sends. It is these that give the correct indications to carry out the next modification to be done to the Rectifier (self-healing and feedback).
It is also very important to dedicate a certain amount of attention to observing and studying one’s own asymmetry in front of a mirror.
In order to understand all the signals communicated by one’s own body it takes time and practice. This ability needs to be acquired in order to find the best possible occlusion that, over time, leads the individual to a definitive realignment.
The time that elapses between one modification and another varies from between 12 to 17 days. This interval can be shortened or even extended, in particular cases.
In theory, it is the individual who must be able to realize when the right moment comes to make a modification. If this doesn’t happen, then the individual can respect the standard period of 12 to 17 days, to make the modification.
If the usual interval has elapsed then a new modification is made. Thus another imprint is made on the casting resin (the registration). The new imprint is transferred from the occlusion to all the adjacent structures and consequently to the entire body: muscles in the neck, in the back, and so forth. At the end of 12-17 days the body completes the modification and needs to repeat the process. One proceeds in this way until there is a definitive realignment.
The individual is not only applying a method of straightening the back, but becomes a participant in self-healing, listening and interpreting the signals of the body.
The insertion of the Rectifier into one’s own oral cavity, although appearing at first to be invasive, becomes perfectly tolerable, after a brief period of adjustment.
