A word of Caution for neuragia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO)

I came across an interesting discussiong on a syndrome known as neuragia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO). One such doctor who advocates the syndrome has recently lost his dental license.

In 2007, Wesley R. Shankland, II, D.D.S., who operates the Central Ohio Center for Facial Pain in Columbus, Ohio, settled charges against him by entering into a consent under which (a) his dental license will be suspended for six months; (b) he must complete 300 hours of continuing dental education that includes at least 40 hours in ethics, (c) he must not utilize any “alternative” dental or medical treatment without informing the patient that the procedure is nonstandard, (d) his ability to prescribe narcotics and psychiatric drugs will be restricted during 2008, and (e) his records must be available for review and monitoring by a physician or dentist who is experienced in the management of chronic pain.

He runs a website in which you can find a lot more information from his perspective on NICO http://www.drshankland.com . It appears to me that due to his lost dental license he created the website http://www.stopsnoringohio.com/ and will be attempting to help people with sleep disorders until he gets his dental license back. And the interesting thing is that he will be doing this by making people dental appliances.

 In my opinion you should really be on the lookout for dentists and seek out multiple opinions before they do any type of surgery or even give you a dental appliance which can cost several hundred dollars.

 There is a whole controversy on NICO including many other dentists who have lost their licenses and a manufacturer, Cavitat Medical Technologies, who attempted to bribe dentists with money to use their device and advocate particular treaments. To find out more visit http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cavitation.html

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