The fundamentals of this classification are described as:

• Both arches apparently meeting corectly (maximal intercusoation). This is called Normal - Class I;
• The upper arch too far forward relative to the lower jaw - Class II;
• The lower arch too far forward relative to the upper jaw - Class III

Superimposed on these principals is, the belief that the European is more evolved with his retrognathic jaws but the dentoalveolar ratio has not kept up with this highly evolved species. This implies that modern societies have too many teeth and not enough bone to accommodate the teeth justifying the extraction of teeth to balance out this disproportion.

This erroneous understanding has lead to absolutely horrendous decisions which have, according to my experience, produced devastating consequences upon millions of people right around the world. The acceptance of this thinking and making it mainstream teaching in dental schools has created a great deal of chronic sickness in society.

Extractions are carried out rampantly to reduce the upper jaw size to meet a retrognathic lower jaw OR extractions are carried out in the "overdeveloped" lower jaw for the teeth to meet an underdeveloped upper jaw.

Extractions are often carried out in both jaws. The whole world has followed this classification of occlusion and the treatment is based around reducing the crowding and getting everyone into a class I relationship. This continues to this day, in spite of the fact that they were set by Angle in 1890 - some 130 years ago. Whilst not taking away anything from Angle and continuing to respect his position in the history of dentistry and orthodontics, it is imperative that we make drastic changes and upgrade our understanding of occlusion and its ramifications throughout our body.

Thousands of patients undergo extractions and constrictive, regressive orthodontics to this day. This was for the European face but has been applied to all nationalities. Imagine an African face where 4 teeth are pulled out resulting in completely floppy lips.

This practice takes the jaws backward while they should be developing forwards. Children are further given retainers to hold the jaws in this position preventing further forward growth. Thousands end up with chronic illnesses because of the gross interference with the overall balance of the head upon the neck.

Angles classification and treatment based on trying to bring everyone into a class I relationship is deeply flawed, as it does not take account of the environmental and developmental damage, which brings about these malocclusions.

It does not look into the potential for developing or advancing the retrognathic jaw or both jaws. It does not look into the anteroposterior and lateral planes of the occlusion. It does not look into where in space the dental complex is placed relative to the skull.

It does not look into the pharyngeal space, which may be compromised by retrognathic jaws. It does not look at the swallowing patterns of patients which often result in the upper jaw being too narrow and retrognathic also, causing permanent breathing and sinus problems further damaging the potential for proper jaw development.

The diagnosis and treatment are based mainly on intraoral features. It excludes an examination of the muscles around the head, which may be very tender and stiff because of the asymmetry of the jaws.

It does not look at the impact on the neck vertebrae especially the Atlas vertebra which is always mal-rotated. It does not look at the lower back or the hips of the patient which, are always out of level in the presence of even the slightest malocclusion of the order of just 2 millimeters.

Over the years I have figured out that this classification and any treatment based on it is one of the most dreadful concepts which underpin orthodontics and has lead to a great deal of chronic sickness in society with hundreds of thousands suffering the ill effects in every country where such treatment is carried out.

The reality is very different when one tries to correlate health with the craniodental form. It appears that complete spatial symmetry of the dental complex, relative to the skull, is of the utmost importance. Symmetry implies left-right mirror image equality, correct proportions anteroposteriorly, and vertically. Correct inter arch occlusion of both arches. It is actually a 3-dimensional craniomandibular harmony and balance, versus just the one-dimensional implication of the word symmetry.

When considering all these parameters a Class I relationship could be completely wrong. One simple way would be to see if there is attrition of the lower incisal tips. If present then both jaws are "Class I retrognathic".

The expression "hanging by the skin of the teeth" is the most potent expression ever discovered. Minute departures can lead to illness. An analogy I often use is that our bodies are as finely tuned as a finely made Swiss clock. If anything goes even slightly wrong with the mechanism, it will not give the correct time. Our body is exactly the same. Minute departures lead to illness.

In the picture above, I have shown the basic disturbance in our cranium in terms of rotating cogs. When the lower jaw is pushed back, it causes the temporal bone to rotate forwards while the occipital bone lifts upwards causing all kinds of head and neck problems e.g. migraines, neck pain, suboccipital muscle pain, and shoulder pain. These are dental problems and can only be corrected through dental interventions, not medical pills.

When the cerebellum lifts up on one side, a little-known fact but easily demonstrable, it disturbs the symmetry of the cerebellum and the blood flow through the vertebral artery because the Atlas vertebra also rotates forwards on the affected side. This can cause all kinds of movement disorders and may also affect the eyes. Please read my article on Visual snow.

The hypoglossal nerve which innervates the tongue also emanates from the occipital bone close to the occipital condyles. Any asymmetry here can also potentially affect speech and swallowing. Some medical syndromes chiefly cerebellar ataxia, have these groups of symptoms occurring together namely, gait disorder, eye problems, speech, and swallowing issues. No pill can ever fix that so patients get pigeonholed into syndromes or medical conundrums.

Dr Siegfried Trefzer writes: "In my understanding Ataxia itself is a term used for a group of disorders that affects coordination, postural balance, speech, most voluntary movements such as gripping and the selective engagement of muscle groups but also automated movements e.g. the ability to swallow, to walk etc. At some stage, my patient was simultaneously affected by all of these dysfunctions to a various degree."

Any asymmetry of the Atlas makes the occiput asymmetric and hence the blood flow through the vertebral artery which traverses the Atlas to the cerebellum diminishes causing numerous symptoms like a loss of fine motor control, tremors and gait dysfunction. This worsens over time as the patient gets older and the arteries also start furring up. Studies with Doppler ultrasound have established this blood perfusion discrepancy but the neurologists have failed to establish the Atlas-Occipital link affecting cerebellar function.

In this article please read the section under “Vertebral artery anatomical considerations”:
They have observed the discrepancy naming it “VBI: Vertebro Basilar Insufficiency”.

Atlas asymmetry also seriously affects cranial drainage via the Internal Jugular Veins (IJV). Please read an extensive article under Obstruction of the Internal Jugular veins & Atlas Asymmetry on this website.

It is my contention that this is what starts a chain reaction resulting in various deficits in cerebellar function one of which is gait dysfunction or cerebellar ataxia and tremors (some very violent) which many patients develop who present with ‘MS’. These tremors stop instantly on the correct positioning of the jaws while the patients have been told that they have suffered permanent neurological damage through the "demyelination process".

This must be the quintessential explanation as attending to the asymmetry soon relieves the symptoms in those where the problem is of short standing. In others it improves the gait while yet in others it stops further deterioration.

This is an excerpt from my 2009 article on Atlas asymmetry:

"The cranium becomes unlevel leading to an asymmetry of the eyes and the back of the head called the occiput which physically alters the shape of the cerebellum leading to problems with fine motor control of the skeletal muscles and also causing problems like dyslexia. According to some scientific research, Dyslexia appears to be centred in the cerebellum

Apart from the Hypoglossal nerve a number of other important nerves also get affected:
1. The Vagus and the Cervical Sympathetic chain: The effects of asymmetry here can affect the function of many organs in the body, leading to digestive and blood pressure problems.

2. The Phrenic nerve: This nerve supplies the diaphragm. Disturbances here can lead to a reduced breathing capacity. After Atlas correction, we have seen immediate improvement in the patient's breathing capacity in a majority of cases which is an absolutely phenomenal finding.


After watching this video I wrote to Dr. Sims who is a specialist in TMJ dysfunction and also teaches other dentists in the USA, inquiring further into his experiences. His reply was:

"I have treated patients with Hemiplegic and Diplegic gait and those with cerebellar tremor all connected to Trigeminal dysfunction".

Our governing bodies might not like it, but the dentist is responsible for the welfare of his patients. If a dentist or a colleagues' treatment of the dental complex has brought about the illness like neck pain the dentist can neither pass it to the medics nor to a chiropractor, who both do not have any chance of fixing such a problem.

As a matter of record, repeated high-velocity adjustments are extremely detrimental to the neck. Only palliative massage of the neck muscles is an acceptable symptomatic alternative treatment.

Experience shows that the primary cause is in the mouth and the secondary lesion is in the neck. The primary needs treatment. The secondary takes care of itself.


A slight deviation from perfect symmetry affects our bodies like a badly balanced car tire which eventually shows wear on one edge needing replacement - synonymous to one needing a hip replacement at age 70! This concept of absolute symmetry is hard to fathom when one sees so many variations between individuals.

It is however very easy to demonstrate within a few seconds of a consultation. Patients present with very many symptoms and most can be easily explained in terms of craniodental and skeletal asymmetries both, anatomically and neurologically. Correction of the asymmetries also brings about a resolution of most symptoms experienced by patients commonly branded into ME, CFS, FM, and MS.

The graphs below are a true record of a patient who was previously described as possibly suffering from ME or CFS or FM or MS by various medical consultants. The body starts recovering very rapidly with symmetry based interventions. Tens of thousands had previously been spent on medical care with absolutely no resolution and the patient had gotten rapidly bed bound.



She was an Angles' Class II and two of her upper premolar teeth had previously been extracted to drag her upper teeth and jaw back to meet a smaller lower jaw! This created a serious imbalance of the head on the neck, which started reacting causing pain and numerous spiraling symptoms throughout the body. The patient recovered completely and went on to get a first class maths degree at University. She was bedridden for almost a year before coming for treatment. Again, I must emphasise that these patients can only be helped through dentistry.

Some patients present with some 40 symptoms. Conglomerations of such symptoms eventually are classed as different illnesses e.g. Fibromyalgia, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis by practitioners who specialise in classifying patients into the correct pigeonhole after conducting endless investigations repeated every few months. All these illnesses have at their core bodily asymmetries. When corrected the patients show remarkable and often rapid recoveries.

You may be surprised to learn that these illness names have no bearing on reality. Many patients suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are classified as such until they start getting some head symptoms like Optic Neuritis. This is when the patient is referred for an MRI scan and if some plaques are found in the brain the doctor exclaims that he has at last discovered what is wrong with the patient - It is not CFS it is MS!

However, medicine has neither an answer for CFS nor for MS.

The patients also very often take a sigh of relief that at last their illness has been recognised not realising that they are in as much of a limbo as they were before and perhaps considerably worse because now they are going to be subjected to some serious drugs.

What has really gone on is that no effective treatment was provided for the earlier symptoms and matters have gotten worse akin to the tire of a car, eventually wearing out.

In terms of examining such patients a visit to the Chiropractor or an osteopath will nearly always show that one leg is clinically shorter than the other. The patients also have numerous pains around their head and neck muscles especially when the suboccipital muscles and the mastoid insertion of the Sterno-mastoid muscles are palpated.



The other challenges facing someone like me are the hospital consultants who almost never find anything wrong with a patients jaws no matter how much pain or dysfunction the patient presents with. I have many other such reports but Here are the experiences of some recent patients:

From: S M
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 19:01
Subject: Jaw issues

Dear Dr. Amir,
I am a very fed up person. I have been sent round & round the mulberry bush for 20 years following an extraction. In the last year, however, the pain has gotten really bad and I have pain all along the right side of my body at every joint. I went to a private Harley St dr who and for the first time experienced being treated like I was a human! Below is my OPG. He thinks it looks like my jaw is very much dislocated and he had never seen anything like it. I have been telling GPs dentists, maxfax people for years I am having difficulty speaking, eating & it feels as if my face is moving to the left. Nobody listened till now. However, I had to then be referred back to the NHS as the specialist treatment was too expensive. They again fobbed me off etc etc.

Just received this from Belgium:
Sent: Saturday, February 2, 2019 15:53
Subject: Request appointment (coming from abroad)

"Dear Dr. Amir,
My name is L........, I am 32 and I live in Belgium.

I am writing to you because I found your website through a community of people with TMJ dysfunctions. I have been having a lot of the symptoms listed on your website, and the things are getting worse every year. The doctors keep telling me it’s my anxiety and they do not even bother to try to find the real causes. I have had a lot of works in my mouth, ...................."

The hospital consultants occupy a unique place in society. They are believed. Even when they fob off patients almost all the time. In one breath they say nothing abnormal found and in the next breath, they tell the same patients to use palliative measures like soft diet, hot compresses, painkillers, physiotherapy, drugs, and useless splints. It is a sorry state of affairs out there.

Remember even a millimeter of asymmetry can cause serious problems, like hundreds of my patients can testify but here 8 extracted teeth, jaw clicking, limited mouth opening, deviation on opening, intense pain in muscles all around the head and neck is accepted as normal!

Two companies come to mind. One is Myotronics in Seattle, USA and the other Biopak in Milwaukee, USA. They both supply some sophisticated equipment which can precisely tell the displacement of the jaws and the tension around all the muscles around the head and neck. I think our hospitals need to equip themselves with these pieces of equipment so that patients are not misled in error, design or negligence.

Each year, the neck will continue to deteriorate and your taxes can keep filling the bottomless NHS pit. The patients often have difficulty turning the neck and the breathing is almost always suboptimal giving rise to fatigue and numerous organic problems throughout the body.

Bringing about symmetry in the front of the mouth aligns the Atlas vertebra. The Atlas vertebra occupies a unique place in the recent history of treatments of skeletal asymmetries. AtlasPROfilax® is a Swiss technique developed by Monsignor Rene Schumperlii that uses strategic and precisely targeted mechanical vibrations and pressure to the short muscles – suboccipital muscles – of the neck. In this way, the atlas is allowed to embed correctly in the condylar facets of the occiput.

A German MRI and 3D CAT scan investigations have shown that 98 percent of a healthy, modern population sample had atlas malrotation and that the AtlasPROfilax® procedure was corrective for this condition.

In another study of 350 patients using an iliac crest, inclinometer indicated that the AtlasPROfilax procedure corrects pelvic misalignment and functional leg length discrepancy. It immediately corrects the short leg phenomenon. This would abate back pain, hip pains, sciatic nerve pains, numbness etc for a majority of the patients.

If we are talking about MS patients, you can just imagine the benefit many would experience from this one PHYSICAL correction. Claiming that the previous hip pains were the consequence of demyelination and "descending pathways damage from brain lesions" becomes very questionable. If such were the case, the patients would never experience immediate and dramatic relief.

However, correcting the Atlas does not correct the discrepancy in the mouth, which is a counterbalance for the Atlas rotation and vice versa. The Atlas soon goes out of synch again in most cases. Correcting the teeth helps correct the Atlas which it does automatically as the symmetry in the front of the mouth improves. The required change in the jaw is often much greater and needs long-term treatment while attempts to correct the Atlas alone does not hold in the presence of most dental asymmetries.


Moving on from the Atlas to the hips and trying to answer many questions I receive, please visualise the following:

I want you to imagine a perfectly shaped head for example that belonging to one of the great athletes like Usain Bolt or Mark Spitz (a swimming legend). If such a head was balanced on a spike it would have to sit on a certain place on the spike to balance. If we now go and extract just one small tooth out of the patient's mouth that head is not going to balance anymore and will need to be repositioned on the spike. Patients have usually had a lot more dental extractions, congenitally missing teeth, and underdeveloped jaws all affecting the balance of the head on this imaginary spike.

In life, it is not a spike but our neck vertebrae which support the head. These vertebrae will have to compensate to balance the head. They compensate by realigning as best as they can. In other words, they rotate and distort. Since the damage to the mouth is permanent they have to remain distorted permanently often affecting the nerves that emanate from the spine. The damage to our jaws is forever present in modern societies. Dr. Weston Price did a great deal of research some 70 years ago and attributed the poor facial developments to our modern processed foods.

The body is built to gain symmetry all the time. The brain and other reflex mechanisms built into our neurology do not like the vertebral misalignment in the neck and contract various muscles to straighten the vertebrae and the head. Since the damage is permanent the messages to the muscles to contract are endless. Fatigue and pain set in. Over a long period the discs bulge, spurs grow, nerves, veins, arteries get constricted and a whole host of problems like chronic neck pain and a frozen shoulder etc. develop.

THESE ARE SIMPLER PROBLEMS. More serious problems develop if left untreated. These can include Spinal stenosis, Chiari malformations, Cranio Cervical Instability with Atlanto Axial Instability (CCI/AAI) resulting in a 'sinking head' causing brainstem compression with its very serious ramifications in terms of erratic heart rate, extreme dizziness, extreme breathing difficulty, and often complete paralysis.

Damage to the jaws is not from a single tooth extraction. It can be from a number of teeth extracted for various reasons which cause far bigger distortions of the neck. Extracting premolar teeth, conducting constrictive orthodontics, wearing retainers preventing jaw growth, extracting wisdom teeth all contribute to the creation of serious damage to the cranial balance on the neck vertebrae.

Poor development of the jaws due to dietary causes and genetically missing teeth also eventually cause serious health issues. While I am on the subject, genetically missing teeth have to be replaced with ideally implants, not the teeth dragged around to close the spaces constricting the jaws.

The neck is part of the rest of the spine. The rest of the spine cannot let its top end to rotate in one direction. The lower end distorts in the opposite direction to balance the spine. Its lower end is connected to the hips. The distortion of the lower spine causes the hips to rotate and give rise to what is called a clinical short leg. The consequence is lower back pain, hip pain, and sciatic nerve pain.

Please note that the effect of occlusal irregularities on hip inclination is present a 100% of the time and thus cannot be ignored by the dentist.

Ever wondered why we have so many millions chronically sick;
Why millions have a chronic backache;
Why one in five elderly patients in an orthopaedic hospital is there because of a fractured hip.
And why our NHS is a bottomless pit?

Revised January 2020
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