About Us 

Insurance and corporate takeovers are changing the dental practice landscape in unprecedented ways in the 21st century, and definitely not for the better.  Insurance plans dictate renumeration, increasing business anxiety as well as slashing profits that could be used to update and improve practices.  Corporate DSOs seek to control the dental landscape, limiting autonomy and the drive to pursue clinical excellence.  As such, savvy dental practitioners need to find niches which allow them to stay independent and most importantly to be in a position to provide unprecedented health care .  The occlusal/orofacial pain angle is definitely one way to set ones practice apart, IF a practitioner can properly diagnose the patients maladies and follow up with either a proper referral or definitive treatment plan that actually works.  The holistic angle is another rewarding avenue for those that genuinely believe in augmenting what works naturally using technologies and techniques such as lasers, med grade ozone, exosomes and platelet rich fibrin.  The CNO is an amazing resource for dental practitioners who wish to stay independent and provide the absolute pinnacle of care to their patients!

The Center for Neural Occlusion, or CNO, will enable dental health care professionals to become OUTLIER dental professionals, with the intent of disseminating objective, quantifiable and evidence-based diagnostic and treatment protocols in a practical and understandable manner, specifically in the realms of occlusion, TMJ/D, laser dentistry, holistic dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, dental allodynias, the autonomic sympathetics, 3D TMJ imaging (including both MRI & CBCT), and many other niches which patients are demanding and which most practitioners are completely oblivious to . The vision presents dentists and dental specialists objective ways to screen for aberrations in how the stomatognathic/masticatory functions, which can readily lead to confounding symptomatology including headaches, limited or irregular mandibular range of motion, trouble chewing, hypersensitive teeth and abstract “TMJ” problems for which there seems to be no definitive diagnosis nor definitive treatment plan. The possibilities include orthopedic, neurologic, inflammatory, vascular, hormonal, and occlusal issues that may all introduce layers into the patient’s perception of pain. Another extremely important parameter which the CNO will proffer that is consistently overlooked involves definitive quantification of the timing involved within the dynamic movements of the mandible, and how aberrations of this timing can adversely effect the health of the stomatognathic system. Additionally, evidence linking inputs from both cervical sensory and autonomic sympahtetic inputs to many types of confounding orofacial pain will be proffered  as well.  The CNO will strive to set the standard for the objective, quantifiable and reproducible diagnosis of maladies such as these, as well as the definitive treatment protocols necessary to address these issues.  PRF, Laser Dentistry, Exosomes, Ozone Therapy, Nuclear Medicine; these are but a few of the other angles addressed within the CNO curriculum.  Note that most of our courses are available for streaming on the CNO website for ease of dissemination.  

Do not forget the CNO motto:  Measured Matters!

The first introductory level which is included with CNO membership, CNO Foundations (CNOF), is a basic level designed for all health care professionals. Physicians, chiropractors, headache specialists, neurologists, physical therapists, dental laboratory technicians and others will learn to add the timing within the human bite and the condition of the TMJ structures as possible causative factors for the genesis of headaches, orofacial muscular pain, neck and shoulder tension, chronically hypersensitive teeth and other TMD-related symptoms. It will disseminate the fact that these parameters are objectively measurable and potentially treatable via modern, evidence-based digital modalities. This foundational level aims to spread knowledge and hope for health care providers who have looked at every other possible factor for a patients seemingly occlusal, orofacial pain, and/or TMD related issues, other than aberrations in the timing of the bite and how this correlates with painful muscular sequelae .Primarily for dental professionals, the next level, level 1 (CNO1), will proffer didactic information relating to the tempormandibular joints, the muscles of mastication, the teeth and the occlusion, and the basic neurology behind the dynamic stomatognathic living machine. An extremely appropriate level for all practicing dentists and dental specialists, CNO1 shows a practitioner how to objectively occlusal factors that might adversely affect the initiation of any sort of treatment plan that deals with the occlusion. Core to this level will be the introduction of various diagnostic technologies that actually measure various parameters within the dynamic stomatognathic system, as well as the information necessary to act upon the data gathered. Level 1 will culminate with a written examination, to test the student’s knowledge of what the CNO considers most important relative to occlusal, orofacial pain and TMD diagnosis and treatment. Physicians and other medical professionals are welcome to study this material as well (to compliment CNO Foundations), and will leave armed with new knowledge as to how measurable aberrations within the dynamic occlusion (either naturally or iatrogenically introduced) can readily perpetuate chronic headaches and confoundingly hypersensitive teeth, for instance, and how to treat issues such as these.  Level 2 (CNO2) picks up where CNO1 left off.  After having mastered JVA and T-Scan usage in level 1, level 2 will dive deeply into other diagnostic technologies utilized in the Neural Occlusion Screening (NOS) protocols.  Jaw Tracking, Digital Mastication Analysis, advanced EMG usage, Heart Rate Variability Analysis and more will be proferred by Dr. Nick and Mr. John Radke, the inventor of the BioPak technologies.  Level 2 will target dentists specifically.  Level 2 serves to help ensure that the doctor has the clinical skills necessary to make effective diagnostic and treatment decisions for the potential usage of irreversible occlusal adjustments.  Level 3 (CNO3) will be open for any dentist who has taken level 2 and is interested in acquiring knowledge about 3D imaging as it relates to orofacial pain and TMD. MRI and CBCT interpretation will be the impetus of this curriculum, as well as an introduction into the world of cervical and sympathetic inputs that are sometimes present in the confounding TMD patient. Importantly, Level 3 doctors will also be most adept at recognizing how important the orthopedic TMJs, the upper cervical spine, and the autonomic sympathetic inputs are for the TMJ/D patient.  There is literally no other place to acquire this type of occlusal and TMJ/D skillset on the planetnd,Level 4 (CNO4) presents to the student scholar a very different angle on TMJ/D diagnostics and treatment which is not available anywhere in North America.  TMJ Pathology Screening (or TPS) is the brainchild of CNO Board member Dr. Marcelo Matos of Brazil.  Autoimmunity, infectious diseases of the TMJs, rhematological influences upon the orthopedic TMJs, genetic analysis, blood work, nuclear medicine; these and many more topics are germane to CNO4.  If one truly wishes to become a “TMJ specialist”, they must master these outlier dental and medical techniques and technologies.

Level 5 (CNO5) is a breakaway from the occlusal part of the CNO curriculum.  “PRF, Lasers, Ozone, Zirconia Implants and the Sympathetics” are the topics discussed in this amazing three day course.  Dr. Nick and members of the CNO Board decided that these topics were all essential skillsets which would set attendees apart from their peers, in a huge and practical way!  Embracing a more “holistic” mindset, CNO5 covers topics ranging from surgery to periodontal disease to TMJ prolotherapy to accelerated healing with platelet rich fibrin (PRF) to lasers for both everyday dental practice and facial esthetics to dental allodynias which encompass confounding issues that patients have for decades without resolution; until they meet a doctor who has attended and mastered the concepts presented in CNO5.  World expert in PRF and growth factors, Dr. Rick Miron, possesses the lions share of the annual CNO5 update.  Dr. Terry Alford, practicing GP, laser dentist extraordinare, and master anatomist proffers Nd:YAG biostimulation and facial esthetic applications.  Dr. Judson Wall, practicing GP and holistic dentistry guru teaches the crowd about the myriad practical and amazing applications of med grade ozone, and also presents how to use iPRF and ozone to accomplish TMJ prolotherapy (there’s that TMJ angle again!).  Lastly, Dr. Nick Yiannios proferrs the concept of the dental allodynia, which every dental practitioner faces on a daily basis, and how to overcome these confounding problems for the patient.  Elimination of allodynias such as confounding hypersensitive teeth lead to life-long cheerleaders for your dental practice!

DDSLase empowers the practitoner with the knowledge to utilize the dual wavelength Fotona Lightwalker laser to its fullest potential in everyday practice.  Dr. Colonna and Dr. Yiannios run the attendees through the ins and outs of everyday practical usage for both the erbium and neodynium wavelengths, in regards to endodontics, periodontics, surgery, biostimulation, operative dentistry, crown and veneers applications, and dozens of other salient topics involving laser dentistry.  The goal: to get the Lightwalker user off of their presets and to absolutely blow away their patient pool with the amazing potential that laser dentistry can provide!

“Measured Matters”; these are the words that the CNO embodies. Removing as many of the subjective parameters as possible to arrive upon a predictable and proper diagnosis and course of action; this will be the purpose of the CNO. Getting the bite right is more important than most people think, including those who are supposedly the experts in regards to dental occlusion (the dynamic bite). The vast majority of these experts are stuck on analog metrics, which show the practitioner little in regards to orthopedics, growth and development, force, timing and muscle activity. The CNO will show the serious student the way, typically without the use of splints, surgery, medications, lasers or physical therapy. “If I can reproduce an event predictably, that by definition is a fact. If I cannot reproduce an event predictably, that by definition is an opinion.” The CNO proffers measured, predictable and reproducible medicine as it relates to the function of one of the most important and essential systems within the human body, that of the stomatognathic system. Understanding how orthopedic and occlusal biomechanics, cervical, sympathetic and trigeminal inputs, inflammation, and frictional interactions between opposing teeth in time effects this system is key to understanding many cases of TMD and orofacial pain.

Dr. Nick Yiannios, DDS, MCNO