I had a sample kit and information sent to my dentist.  When I discussed this with him, he indicated that he was not a headache doctor.

Two months later my dentist called me and asked if I could stop in and talk about the NTI.  I found out that he had finally read all of your literature and attended several seminars.  The outcome of that visit was I left with a fitted NTI.

I have not had a morning migraine in 6 weeks.  This is the most wonderful thing that has happened!  The bottles of migraine medications are not longer on my nightstand; I no longer wake at 5:00 a.m. having to down three pills so when I wake at 6:15 it is with a somewhat clear head.

Thank you for all of your research!!!!!  God Bless You!

Karen S. Claing
Manchester CT 

Warmest Regards,
Bob Zamites
San Antonio, Texas

Thank you so much for inventing such an amazing device!  I visited Dr. Mansky ( really cool guy) about a week ago and will be seeing him shortly for a follow up.

Just to let you know why I am thanking you so profusely -- as you predicted, after the first night I expereinced a significant reduction in headache pain in the temporal regions, which was the most agonizing component of my 
symptoms.  Wheras a little over a week ago my headaches regularly felt like a 7.5 - 8 out of 10, today they measure somewhere around a 3 and I can imagine their continual waning unitl they are a 0.0.  I still have jaw, facial, and neck/upper-back/shoulder pain, and I also continue to clench (on the NTI-tss device itself), but I realize that healing these spastic muscles takes time, and for the first time in 8 + years I am hopeful that I can one day return to feeling "like a normal human being."

Thanks again,
Lloyd

Bambi Tracy

Subject:  Re: Question about juvenlie migraine
Date:  Fri, 20 Sep 2002 03:39:50 -0700
From:  Jim Boyd <Jim@DrJimBoyd.com>
Organization:   http://www.DrJimBoyd.com
To: DrGRSr@aol.com

DrGRSr@aol.com wrote:

 I have been using the NTI appliance for a few months.  I have had good results.  Now, I have only been in 
 practice for 37 years, so I don't have ALL the answers, but I have been exposed to most all the greats, Dawson, Guichet, Anderson, Stewart, Fillastre, Dickerson,  Jackson, Carlson, Jankelson (1 & 2), and more.
The NTI appliance has more directly impacted my ability to help people in pain than anything I have ever done.  Here's my question:

A 9 yr old boy, (with Mom) reporting migraine headaches from age  6.  Reports of noisy grinding of teeth "forever".  Has seen numerous MDs, and tried various meds  and therapy.  Has been a big problem for the family and the child

Informed patient referred the mom specifically about  this.  Evaluated, explained, advised, etc.  Made NTI for him.  Due to relative uneruption of centrals was unable to get the "snap" fit.  Used denture adhesive and got an
acceptible retention.  He has worn/used the NTI  for a month now, and is headache free, reports an ecstatic mother. He is able to wear the NTI thru the nite and is waking up happy and going strong!!

So even though I suspect I know where you're going to go with this, stop right there for a second.
You have done something for that mother and child that no one, not and dentist before you, not  a neurologist, not the Mayo Clinic, nobody, could do until now.  If a year ago that mother had been told that her son had been selected to be the first to try *another* drug that would most likely stop his headaches but he might become a (for example) insulin dependant diabetic, she'd jump at it. 

Here is my question:
His teeth, especially the centrals, are in the process of erupting.  Does the  fit of the NTI preclude the eruption of the centrals,  max or mand?

Humm... do you suppose the shoes he was wearing in your office preclude his feet from growing any bigger?   ;-)
What do you supposed the mother would say if you told her, "If what I try works, he will be practically headache free, *but* he might need to wear braces some day"... She's wonder what all the fuss was about.  When it comes to headache therapy, we dentists have our priorities our of sequence.

I could go on, but you get the drift.  To help this boy with hiis headaches am I creating future ortho/occlusal problems?
- Grant Ritchey

Only us Dentists refer to this as a potential "problem", even after totally changing someone's life for the better. (O.K., so you get it now)  Here's what you do:  Take a full maxillary arch model and make a vaccuum formed stent.  Cut out the palate so that it covers only the teeth. (see: http://www.nti-tss.com/Cstm-NTI.htm for more instructions).  Add a DE (Discluding Element) with othro acrylic. This horse-shoe shaped piece of plastic is not like a cast chrome framework.  In about 3 months, it won't fit very well, in that it won't seat all the way.  So you take a new impression and made another one!  BUT HERE'S THE BEST PART!  He will be "growing out" of the intense clencing sleep disorder, thanks to *you*, and will have a wonderful life NOT full of headaches.  Adults using an NTI do not have this luxury.

Without question, the greatest thrill/pleasure during the developement of the NTI protocol was treating children with this same history.

So, add *your* name to that list of "greats" you mentioned...but as far as those parents are concerned, yours is the only one on it.

-Jim Boyd, DDS

My name is Lisa Poth, and I am 25. I live in Waco, Texas. I have had migraines since age 7. I get common and classic. Over the years I have seen all sorts of doctors including neurologists, trying to find out how to prevent these headaches. Sometimes they will get so bad, I throw-up for hours, and have to take a phenergan suppository to knock myself out. I have been using Imitrex for about 6 years. Typically, I have about 5 headaches a week, sometimes everyday. It has just become a part of my life, I expect it. In fact, if I don't get one, I think something is wrong! Crazy huh. The doctors wanted to put me on blood pressure medication, or anti- sezure medication. I refused. I tried antidepressants, but they did not help. I was beginning to give up. I have had dentists tell me my teeth are worn from grinding, but I never thought I was clenching too. I have had fractured teeth, in fact I just fractured one about a month ago. 

About 3 months ago, I was looking around on the internet on migraine prevention updates, and I saw the write up on the FDA approval of your device, the NTI-TSS. I was curious, but VERY skeptical. I thought, if drugs can't help me how can a tiny little thing like that work, and I sure didn't believe clenching could cause all of that pain. I called my dentist, but she does not use it. So I found the NTI directory. I went to Dallas to see Dr. Hamlett. He said my jaws, and scalp muscles are a lot larger and stronger than they should be. I was fitted with the device that day. When I tried to wear it at night, it felt too loose, so I went back and had it refitted. Then I just couldn't get used to having that thing in my mouth, so I put it up. A month later, I awoke with a terrible migraine, and when I chewed, I had a tooth that was hurting. I had fractured another tooth. My dentist wanted to put me in a traditional nightgurad, so I told her about the NTI I had. She was scared of supraeruption, but told me to try it anyway, if nothing else, it would protect my teeth. 

I stared wearing your device on May 20. I have had only 3 headaches since then. This came about at a good time because my insurance company has put a limit to how much Imitrex I can have because I was taking it everyday. I had to have it to make it to work. My headaches used to wake me up at night, but now they were coming everyday after lunch. I have not had to fill my Imitrex yet. I feel so weird not getting a headache every afternoon. 

I just wanted to say thank you. I am reading the online book you have. It all makes sense. I have told other people I know about the NTI. I just wish I would have found it sooner. Thanks so much for creating this. I just hope this lasts. I am so scared those headaches will start again. I shall see. But, something is definately different since I stared using it.

My dentist still wants me to wear a regular guard in the day so I won't fracture anymore teeth. 
Please e-mail me back. God bless you! Have a good day, tell your wife thanks too for her help. I saw the picture of your child on the internet, how cute. At least she won't have to suffer like we did!

Lisa Poth
 

I was medically diagnosed as suffering from TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA.  This began 18 months of agonising head aches which would strike at any time without warning.  If I was driving my car I would have to abruptly pull over to enable me to clutch my right temple in absolute agony.  After each episode it would take over 30 minutes for the intense pain to subside to a dull throbbing.  I was prescribed the strongest pain killers available with not the slightest reduction in pain.  Eventually I stopped taking anything, as nothing would help.

In early 2001 I was fitted with a TMJ Splint to prevent my grinding my teeth at night as I slept.  This traditional device helped for + - 6 months when I ground through it after watching the `Twin Tower' / `Pentagon' disaster on TV (our son and family liver 1/2 hour away from the Pentagon).  I then had this TMJ Splint built up and my headaches came back worse than ever.  Instead of 2 or 3 times a week they returned 2 or 3 times a day with a constant physical awareness of  `the beast waiting to attack'.  I realised I would have to give up driving as by this time I never drove anywhere without someone in the car with me and that I would also have to give up working with problematic horses for my safety.

One morning in November 2001 I was telling a friend about my plight.  That afternoon she phoned me a suggested I see Dr. Barry Forshaw, as he as confident he had the answer to my headaches.  By this time I was ready to try anything, but was nevertheless more than sceptical when I saw how small the NTI-tss device was.  Dr. Forshaw fitted this device, aftwhich I had two mild `attacks' in the initial two weeks (wearing my daytime device) and thereafter `felt' no need to wear the daytime device but have continued to wear my night device and have not had even a hint of THE headache in the 7 months I have worn it.

I am no longer finger sensitive in my temple area and am grateful beyond expression for my new lease of life at 60 years of age. Needless to say my most precious possession is my NTI-tss device.

I am able to continue to work with difficult horses and to drive without any fear of having an `attack'.  I have had a few `normal' headaches from the heat and/or flue which merely assures me that THE  headaches are gone.  I realise my 3 + years of agony is nothing compared to the years of agony other peole have gone through before finding relief with the NTI-tss device, but believe me 3 years was long enough for me to lose my will to live an even partially enjoyable life.

May you and your colleagues continue to bring relief to the many people suffering from `clench' related headaches.

Yours sincerely

Di Poupard
South Africa

I have been searching through the literature looking for an answer as to why my night terrors have abated wearing the NTI-tss device. 

I suffered from migraine when a new dentist recommended your device, which relieved the migraines, the sinus pain, the TMJ, grinding, etc.  But as an added bonus, the horrible early morning dreams that I have had for years are poof - the normal garden variety now. 

Can you point me to an informational source.  No, I am not a psychotic, just a librarian looking for more info. thanks 

Mary Timmons
DCC Librarian

I use it whenever I am not in public: driving, sitting at the computer, etc. My husband is now used to me talking to him with it in my mouth because I am so unwilling to take it out! I wish I could wear it all the time. Too bad it impedes speech a bit. I have already ground several deep grooves into the device. 
I innately knew, when I saw you on Good Morning America, that this little thing would change my life. I literally cried knowing I could live my life relatively pain free, and pain-killer free. It has changed my life. I also have MS. My chiropractor is thrilled that the abduction stress in my spine and legs is reduced to stage 1, essentially normal!! 
I am thrilled as well!! 

So, thank you for this little piece of plastic, and I do tell people all about it. (I work in a pharmacy and let people know about it when I can). 

I don't know what else to say or how to end this, so I will just say thank you once again. 
Sincerely, 
Sharyn DiGeronimo 
(Long Island, NY) 

Mike Crum DDS Ripon, CA 95366

PS my wife was my first patient and stopped having tension headaches 2 days after wearing it also... 

Phil

Well, within 1/2 hour she was feeling really great, after feeling pretty crappy for most of the day.
Ain't life great!!!!!

Thanks a lot for everything "El Jimño" .

Gerald Fox Califon, NJ

10 days later, the pain in the "teeth" was gone.  The soreness in the TMJ was much reduced.  She was no longer taking pain medication. 
In my mind, the NTI works.

Walter Zoller  Cocoa, FL

Michael Pilon Ottawa

FINALLY, skeptical ole me made up an NTI.  All your explanations plus all the testimonials I've read on the IDF still had me nervous about jumping in.  Forgive me, but that is my general nature.  All your explanations made sense but it is hard to change a mindset after so many years.  Plus, it all just seemed too simple.  Add in that my success 
with TMJ related patients was at best dismal that I gave up on doing any treatment for these people.  It became apparent to me that it was just a crap shoot and I as well as everyone else treating TMJ were just hoping and 
crossing our fingers that what we did would help.  Plus, I practice in an area where most people don't have much of a dental IQ or a lot of $$ either.

My dental assistant has been going through hell at home and unfortunately, it looks like a divorce is going to go down.  She married a bum who took her completely for granted and despite years of trying to make a go of it, 
she has decided to make the best of the rest of her life and move on.  Of course, she has been very tense and this past Tuesday, she informed me that when she got up in the mornings she had to take a whack of Advil and such 
just to get the pain in her face to a tolerable level so she could come to work.  She has been a most dedicated employee for over 8 years and has never missed an hour of work over health.

I had been chatting with her about these devices off and on as I read IDF email between patients when there is time and she said to me, "If we ever get a little time, do you think you could make me one of those?"  So, right 
at the end of that day, I got out my nicely constructed manual that I made up stealing and copying all those great web pages you have on your site.  It took me a total of 20 minutes from start to finish and I think I followed every rule and guideline required.  Having read about and hearing about it so much now, I really didn't need to read the instructions.

WELL, she came to work on Wednesday morning saying it was the best she had ever felt in weeks.  She didn't have to take any analgesics that morning.  Thursday morning she was even feeling better and Friday the same.   Now I know it is only a few days but WOW, guess all those next to unbelievable testimonials I have been reading from colleagues on the IDF must have something to them.  Likely some of my problem is that I really prefer science over testimonials but glad I got the opportunity in this case.  Being it was my dental assistant sure made my first official case easier.  It would be hard for me to take had it been an official card carrying patient and the results came out dismal.

SO, guess you have heard similar stories a bunch already and this is just another one for you.

Greg Frobb gjfrobb@telusplanet.net

Thanks again, and Happy New Year!

Mike in Eburg