Responses sent to the Editor (copied to NTI-TSS Inc.)

Dear Editor, 

I found the article "Hope or Hype" in your February issue to be a very unbalanced report on the NTI device. I am a dentist who has been using the NTI to help over 100 patients with various types of headache pain, including migraines, for the past two years. In fact, I have used it to treat my own tension headaches and migraines with incredible success. 

Just as your quoted physician, I was skeptical at first. How could nightly tooth clenching have any impact on my migraines which, as I was told by the medical community, had a chemical or hormonal basis? I decided to be my own guinea pig. My daily tension headaches that were centered around my temples, NOT my TMJ, disappeared within the first week. And even more surprising, was that after wearing the NTI for 3 months, I did not get my monthly "period" migraine for the first time in over 10 years. Patients using the device are getting similar results. All report a reduction in their migraine intensity and frequency. 
I realize this is one doctor's anecdotal report. However, it was clear that your "experts" have not familiarized themselves with the scientific background or protocol, but have dismissed the device based on their own preconceived notions. The public would be better served by their further study of the NTI with an open mind. Perhaps they would find that pericranial muscle tension caused by tooth clenching is just one more piece of the migraine puzzle. 

Joyce Warwick, DMD 
Pittsburgh, Pa 

Dear Editor,

I read with interest "Hope or Hype", which negatively profiled the NTI-TSS system, and had to wonder who prompted this impromptu opinion poll. There were no comments from anyone who has actually used the NTI device, and when I see that type of investigative report, I have to paint the resulting opinions with skepticism.

I would question why any practitioner who truly has the best interest of the patient at heart would deny that patient a potential migraine reduction treatment that is non-surgical, reversible and does not involve taking medications. To say there is "no clear link between clenching and migraines", in the mind of those of us who have employed the NTI for years in our practice, seems disingenuous at best and self-serving at worst.

I would hope that you offer another voice to the many migraneurs who have received considerable relief from the NTI after many years of drugs. Shy of that, at least contact the developer of the NTI or a few of the many dentists who use this non-invasive regimen daily in our practices..

Sincerely,
Kent Smith DDS

p.s. Maybe not so coincidentally, my hygienist, who was recently fitted with the NTI, just told me she has stopped taking all of the medications prescribed for her by physicians attempting to treat her migraines. Don't tell her there is "no clear link"! 

Dear Editor: 

Perhaps in the interest of unbiased journalism, your publication should interview Dr. Jim Boyd, the doctor who created the NTI.  He has substantial data supporting the efficacy of the NTI and as any person associated with the medical field should realize, the FDA does not blithely approve anything.  I myself wear an NTI every night and have experienced a dramatic reduction in both the number and severity of headaches.  I have many patients who are also success cases.  If you were a migraine or tension headache sufferer, would you rather wear a fairly small and inexpensive (compared to a lifetime of various meds) device with no side effects or constantly take the latest "new and improved" drug with any number of unwanted side effects that is not as effective in the first place?  I am not aware of any drug that has the percentage of effectiveness that the NTI has!  Now obviously, migraine can be multifactorial, and the NTI is not touted as a cure-all.  Other therapies need still to be researched, but I feel that much of this "anti-hype" is territorial bristling by some MD's and some pharmaceutical companies who feel threatened by dentists being on "their turf".  Please consider running another article featuring Dr. Boyd and the NTI.  You will be doing a good service as well as correcting a biased article.  Thank you very much!

Mark A. Scantlan, D.D.S.

Dear Editor,

It always bothers me when publications allow biased "experts" to speak to the public without at least presenting the other side of an issue.  The NTI protocol is new.  It doesn't surprise me that the bulk of the "world health literature" is based on other tenets.  The fact that they point to a brain component does not mean that a significant percentage of events are not triggered by excessive cranial musculature activity.  In other words, both could be true at the same time.  Finally, I would wonder if the person criticizing the FDA for accepting the clinical trial results has actually read the study and the supporting literature before pooh-poohing the "idea" behind the NTI.  It seems his opinion is based on his preconceptions, not on science.  If they are on scientific grounds,  why doesn't he explain where he finds the science inadequate, or offer a way to make the studies more rigorous?  I think his agenda is clear.  He wants only to support his preconceptions.

Stanley S. Groom D.D.S.
Tulsa, OK

Editor,

Your article would have carried more weight if you had interviewed dentists making the appliance who have had poor results. Unfortunately, they're pretty hard to find. I'm in daily communication with dozens of dentists who fabricate hundreds NTIs for their patients who suffer with headaches. The results are overwhelmingly positive. Patients regularly report how this appliance has changed their lives after years of medical tests and medications which gave them no relief. I don't believe your article had one comment from anyone very familiar or in any way experienced with the NTI. Your article has done a disservice to anyone who reads it, patient or doctor, and is discouraged form further investigation.

H. William Greenberg, DMD

I wanted to take a moment of time and inform you that your article proclaiming the NTI has no or little use in the treatment of migraine is, at best, false.
I have suffered from migraines and severe tension headaches (the combination is often called Transformed Migraine or Chronic Daily Headache) since birth. I have been through every treatment known to the medical establishment to rid myself of the daily chronic pain.  My journey started when I was eight and finally reached a turning point just over four years ago (I am now 33) when I met Dr. Jim Boyd.  At first I had doubts about the NTI but it was truly an inexpensive and non-invasive offering of treatment when compared to what I had already endured.  I visited Dr. Boyd's clinic when he was working out of the Detroit area and was fitted with an NTI.  Within two days of use I noticed my tension headaches had been eliminated and they have yet to return.  The migraines I suffered from were eliminated by at least 50% in the following weeks.  I suddenly had my life back.
My local dentist, Dr. Tom Curtis, had his doubts as well.  He worked with Dr. Boyd to ensure proper adjustments were made to my NTI.  Based on my success Dr. Curtis has now fitted dozens of patients with the NTI and has told me that at least 80% of these patients are reporting a significant decrease in their chronic migraine headaches.  Given that the NTI is relatively inexpensive when compared to other migraine treatments (a 10mg Zomig pill costs $18.00) I feel you should have advised those seeking treatment for migraines to at least consider it as a valid option.

My prognosis: HOPE not hype!

Best Regards,

Dan Adams
danadams@cableone.net

I was somewhat disappointed and dismayed at the comments on the NTI in your recent article.  The NTI is a recent protocol and it is understandable that many are not fully up to date and informed about the
potential of the NTI. But, to make a remark decrying the  FDA for approving the NTI says more about those who expose themselves publicly than about the approval process.

I was cautious when I began offering the NTI to patients. My initial trial was an outstanding success, I also made one for my wife to see if it was tolerable at night. She had been medically diagnosed as having
sinus infections and had followed a regime of anti-biotics and prescription analgesics for 15 years. A week after using the NTI she told me her morning headaches had gone. Since August the only headaches she has experienced were when she misplaced the NTI.

I have placed 40 so far and several have experienced overnight success, several needed fine tuning  and progressed to remission and two have not had much change. My results in this sample are certainly in the range
that the FDA approval found. Anecdote is not the plural of data but before one makes a statement that is at best ignorant one should investigate the findings of fellow professionals.

I would recommend that the nay sayers in the article do their research, try the NTI on patients and come back to the scientific community with a more professional appraisal. Anything else is poor science and not
worthy of publication.

Michael Pilon CD BSc DDS DDPH

Ottawa Canada

Dear Editor,

I am one of those patients who invested in the "Hope or Hype" NTI device as a preventative for migraine. While I am sure there are plenty of Dentists who will differ with your opinion, as a user of the device, let me state, it has been the only effective preventative I have ever used. I have tried many.

Perhaps these "experts" are only dismayed because the pharmaceutical companies whose stocks they own won't be getting as many $250 per month prescriptions written for their overpriced and marginally effective medications. My cost for migraine related treatment, including prescriptions, office visits and emergency room treatment was well over $5000 last year alone. So far this year, I have spent $257 for Maxalt 10mg. MLT (that's 18 tablets, of which I still have 10 left and have only taken one since January 14, the day my NTI was
fitted), and I purchased the NTI. The $300-$800 you quoted for the NTI is nothing for the migraine patient, and it is absolutely nothing for the prescription medication manufacturers. 

My real concern with your article, as a former editor of a daily newspaper with a circulation of 11,000, is your total lack of journalistic balance. Finding two people to cast a dubious cloud over a competing medical device is not a difficult thing to do. Some real research where you interview dozens of people, pro and con, both in the profession and patients would perhaps have some meaning, but you would have to break a sweat and maybe even work up a headache in the process. One question I would suggest you ask your experts: "Have you read the protocols, indications and clinical performance data regarding the NTI?" If the answer to that is "no" then your "experts" may just as well be used car salesmen, since neither uneducated doctors nor used car salesmen understand the principles behind the NTI, but both do know where their bread is buttered.

Rich Lyons
Marshall, TX

I was very disappointed in your recent article on the NTI device for migraines.  I am a 47 year old woman who used to wake up with migraines 5 out of 7 days plus ear pain in my left ear.  I clenched my back teeth at night when I slept to the point that I wore a hole in one of my lower crowns.  The NTI device prevents the back teeth from touching during sleep, making clenching an impossibility.  As a result of wearing it faithfully at night for the past 6 months, my migraines have been reduced significantly (maybe 1/month) and I have NO ear pain.
Your magazine should interview the developer, Dr. Jim Boyd, for some factual research before printing the opinions of doctors who know little to nothing about the device.

Dianne Glasscoe