Meet Dr. Chad Klassen
Pain & Sleep Dentist
There is a gap in health care. My mission is to bridge that gap. What we are missing is a collaborative approach to disease and dysfunction that is based on root cause diagnoses and holistic treatment options that solve the problems, not just cover up symptoms. Our health care system is disconnected and disjointed. It is confused, inefficient, unjust, and dysfunctional.
As a dentist, I was trained in isolation from the rest of medicine. I was taught that the mouth is separate from the rest of the body – by policy, practice, and professions. This has created immense suffering and confusion for patients. There is a better way. It is working as a collective with a common goal: to take a systems approach to health and health care. This means viewing the body as an interconnected set of systems that interact with each other, as well as the entire being of the individual – mind, body, and soul – and with their environment, social conditions, political-economy, and universal connection.
Why I'm dedicated to this work
As a patient, I discovered that I had several issues that were ignored by the health professionals I trusted. I grew up with an undiagnosed tongue-tie, small jaws, crooked teeth, nasal obstruction, allergies, inflammatory diet, clicking jaw joints, anxiety, insomnia, sleep disordered breathing, and postural compensations. I had braces that straightened my crooked teeth in my small mouth that made my mouth even smaller. After having braces, my jaw joints started clicking because the retractive orthodontics pulled my teeth back and pushed my jaw joints back up in the sockets creating instability. I received unsuccessful chiropractics for my neck problems that ignored my small jaws and tongue-tie as the cause of my chronic forward head posture and my anterior pelvic tilt. I used nasal sprays and antihistamines to address symptoms of allergies that ignored my inflammatory diet and physical nasal obstruction – a deviated septum, concha bullosa, and nasal valve collapse. I was prescribed anti-anxiety medications and sleeping pills by physicians who did not care to find out why I couldn’t sleep and why I woke up anxious. I requested a sleep study and it turned out it was obstructive sleep apnea.
My obstructive sleep apnea was caused by my jaws being too small, so my tongue did not have enough space in my mouth and fell back in my throat as I slept. It was made worse by retractive orthodontics. Having a tongue-tie meant that my tongue could not reach the roof of my mouth to stimulate proper jaw development. The tight fascia under my tongue pulled my head forward compromising my neck and therefore my entire body posture. Not being able to breathe properly through my nose while growing up, due to allergies and an inflammatory diet, caused me to breathe through my mouth. This resulted in low tongue posture, further exasperating my small jaw development, head forward posture, and body alignment issues. Not being able to breathe properly at night and during the day kept my body in a state of chronic stress, which created anxiety. Not being able to breathe properly at night created my insomnia – I was afraid to fall asleep because I would choke on my tongue at night.
All of these problems are connected. No health professional I saw about my symptoms had a clue. We can do better. We can diagnose the root causes and work together to address the problems at the source.
I am still on my pathway to healing. Once I discovered the root causes to my problems, I took appropriate action. I used meditation, breathwork, and sound therapy to manage stress. I did orofacial myofunctional therapy and had my tongue-tie released. Now I have proper tongue posture and my jaw joints are in the right place. I wear a sleep appliance at night that has effectively managed my obstructive sleep apnea. I no longer take medications. I worked with a health coach who put me on a cleanse that reset my digestive system. I now eat whole foods from nature and have reduced the inflammation in my body and my nose. I wear a nasal dilator at night and when exercising, so I can breathe easily through my nose. I worked with an osteopath to restore balance in my body. I used PRI physiotherapy and sacral occipital chiropractics to improve my body posture. My next steps are jaw development with a functional orthodontic appliance, Invisalign for bite alignment, followed by nasal and jaw surgery. These are permanent solutions to reverse my symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea due to small jaws. This is my way out.
We all have a way out. We just need to figure out what is going on at the source and deal with it. This takes understanding, commitment, patience, perseverance, and love for the process. It also takes an understanding in the various health professions that provide the necessary services for healing and transformation. It is up to each one of us as individuals to take responsibility for our own health and build our team of trusted health professionals who are willing to work together and address the root causes. It is also our responsibility to care for our children, to address these problems as young as possible, and to focus on prevention. Knowledge is power, and you have the power to change.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Dr. Chad Klassen specializes in treating craniofacial pain and sleep breathing disorders with nonsurgical approaches through a holistic health lens. By addressing root causes of these disorders and collaborating with other health care professionals, Dr. Klassen empowers patients to heal and achieve balance in their lives.
