Dr. Stephen Deal is unique from other dental practitioners in his theory and approach to treating crowded teeth, TMD, and sleep issues. While many dentists direct their focus on the teeth alone, his philosophy is to treat each patient with whole-body health in mind. The head and neck are the gateway to life’s most important requirement, air. Thus, it is obvious that a disturbance in this gateway can affect your overall health in numerous ways. Research today has shown that the underlying issues in most orthodontic, TMJ, and sleep cases are dealing with underdeveloped upper jaws. Underdeveloped jaws limit the space behind the jaws which leads us to a diminished airway. Dr. Deal recognizes that if the patient is able to breathe easier a lot of their health issues tend to diminish or disappear. His goal is to correct the growth of the patients’ jaws and open their airway to prevent or fix issues like crowding, sleep apnea, or TMJ.