Airway-Focused Orthodontists

Most growth- and airway-focused orthodontists and oral surgeons are in the US. I am yet to find any viable options in Europe, with the possible exception of Relax and Smile in Munich, Germany (see Others below).

My Providers

I highly recommend both of my providers:

  • Orthodontist: Dr Tim Yu at Face Focused Orthodontics, Agoura Hills, California.

    Face Focused was started by Dr Bill Hang, who was an early adopter of orthotropics. Dr Yu took over the practice in 2022.

  • Oral surgeon: Dr Coppelson at The Breathe Institute, Los Angeles, California.

    The Breathe Institute is a network of providers led by Dr Soroush Zaghi.

    Dr Coppelson leads the BreatheMax department, and he developed the MIND technique for surgically assisted maxillary expansion.

Dr Yu referred me to Dr Coppelson, and they are working together on planning my case.

Others

These providers were mostly found by searching for “MSE orthodontist” or similar terms, through consultations with other providers, and in the videos of JawHacks and Grow Your Face. Except where otherwise noted, I have not been in contact with them and do not have an opinion on them one way or the other.

# = Do not recommend and/or not available to UK patients; included for information only.

Orthodontists

  • Apex Dental (Dr Mindy Richtsmeier), West Des Moines, Iowa.

    Dr Richtsmeier initially introduced me to MSE and pointed me to Face Focused. Apex do not offer MSE themselves. They do offer tooth-borne expanders, and given that they didn’t offer me one, it seems likely that they are aware that these aren’t always appropriate.

    Dr Richtsmeier provided a highly accurate assessment based on photos alone and recommended looking into MSE and MMA surgery. I found her to be great at listening and explaining concepts, and would definitely recommend Apex if they offered bone-borne expanders.

    The remote consult was $375 (£300).

  • Life Dental Ortho (Dr Brian J Hockel), Walnut Creek, California.

    I think Apex also recommended Dr Hockel to me.

  • Dr Kasey Li, East Palo Alto, California.

    Dr Li developed EASE, an approach to surgical assists for maxillary expansion. Grow Your Face (YouTube channel) had EASE as well as MSE.

  • Infinity Dental Specialists (Dr Marianna Evans), near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    Dr Evans has appeared in multiple podcast episodes with Ronald Ead, including:

  • Airway and Sleep Group, Reston, Virginia.

  • Dr Audrey Yoon, Los Angeles and Redwood City (nr San Francisco), California.

  • The Gelb Center, NYC and White Plains, New York.

  • Embrace Dental and Orthodontics, South Gate, California.

  • Matsumoto Orthodontics & Periodontics, Wilmington, North Carolina.

  • Yousefian Orthodontics, Bellevue, Washington.

    Ronald Ead spoke to Dr Yousefian in this JawHacks video. He also mentions him in this JawCast episode with Dr Aise Cemile.

  • Full Face Orthodontics (Dr Derek Mahony), NSW and Victoria, Australia.

    Dr Derek Mahony was also recommended by Apex Dental. I only contacted them to enquire about a remote consult (~£400).

  • Relax and Smile, Munich, Germany.

    I found Relax and Smile on Won Moon’s MSE provider list. I had a remote consult (80EUR, ~£63) with Dr Christoph Moschik and he said MSE might have been an option, but he insisted on installing a splint for 8 weeks to check whether it would have helped.

    At the time I didn’t agree with this approach and I still don’t think it made sense given my symptoms. It’s possible that he would have taken a different approach had I emphasised one or another symptom—I was still early in my research and understanding of the issues, and I think I placed more emphasis on posture issues in my description—but I didn’t want to argue with his recommendation so I left it at that.

  • # Ting Ortho, California.

    Dr Ting used to treat international patients, but when I called in March 2023 he had stopped because of patients not attending follow-ups. Dr Ting discusses related issues with Ronald Ead (JawHacks) in this video.

Oral Surgeons

  • # MyFace, Portugal.

    I had a remote consult with Dr Sílvia Neves and was turned off this provider. Dr Neves expressed a holistic approach, which I would generally agree with, but she also seemed to favour non-surgical methods, which I did not believe to be a realistic way to achieve the necessary movement and generation of new bone in my case.

    She presented x-rays which purported to show full three-dimensional jaw expansion achieved by headgear, tooth-borne appliances, and postural changes alone, but they were not on the screen for long enough for me to properly study them.

    The remote consult was around £130.