Jump to content
ACN Latitudes Forums

Any one heard of Dr. Sims


ccc

Recommended Posts

No, Dr. Sims did not order the additional x-rays. May be he was waiting for the MRI and than would offer further tests, I do not know, but anyway I have to thank Dr. Sims for helping us to do the MRI through our insurance. He called several times and that is why we got the permission. I was ready to continue with Dr. Sims but he called himself and offered an option of another doctor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 301
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Everyone's insurance is so different, but I thought I'd also share my experience so far. I had my MRI in Annapolis, Maryland (20 minutes from Dr. Sims' office). My insurance is Aetna PPO, and, it did cover the MRI, subject to the usual coinsurance and deductibles that apply for my coverage. I am still awaiting word on how much of the X-rays and the Sims office visits and the device itself will be covered. I submitted these receipts myself, and, for that, it normally takes 4-6 weeks before I find out, but I'll let you know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought I would follow up with where I am at with Dr. Sims. I spoke to him yesterday. He called to give me an update on what progress he had made with my ds case. Dr. Sims was at a conference and met with a colleague of his who works in my city. He reviewed my sons case with him. They concluded (through the many x-rays that were taken pre and post device) that my ds vertebrae twists to the right but once the device is in it is straight. His lower jaw was still not balanced with the device in the mouth (as per the x-rays). Dr. sims arrange with the Ortho in my city to meet with me tomorrow (along with the device) for a consult. They are going to work together to help my ds. They feel that he would benefit from chiropractic work and an adjustment of the device. I am grateful to Dr. Sims for finding someone to work with me here and who really wants to help my ds. I am hoping with some chiropractic work and fixing the device that we will finally find some relief.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

I'm new and have been lurking for a few days. My 13 year old son has suffered with TS since age 9. I'm almost ready to book a flight to Maryland. Have an appointment with my local dentist on Saturday. I delivered the journal article on Monday along with the Dr. Stack youtube video link. Can't wait to hear what he says about this whole thing.

 

Michael, you said that your insurance covered the MRI. I don't have Aetna, but if you don't mind me asking, what exactly should I tell my insurance company when I call to find out if they will cover an MRI? Briefly looking at my benefits online, it seems that my insurance company is very adamant about not covering anything related to dentistry. Do you know how Dr. Sims was able to convince Aetna to cover the MRI?

 

Thanks,

 

Michele

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gemi,

 

When you say that Dr. Sims offered an option of another doctor so you wouldn't have to go to Maryland, do you mean that another doctor would make the appliance for you and work with you?

 

Thanks,

 

Michele

 

 

 

No, Dr. Sims did not order the additional x-rays. May be he was waiting for the MRI and than would offer further tests, I do not know, but anyway I have to thank Dr. Sims for helping us to do the MRI through our insurance. He called several times and that is why we got the permission. I was ready to continue with Dr. Sims but he called himself and offered an option of another doctor.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

love_nfp,

 

First of all, my medical coverage with Aetna is just medical coverage as well. This is through my employer, and they offer dental separately which I have taken some years, but not recently, so the MRI was definitely covered through the medical.

 

Regarding the MRI, Dr. Sims office just gave me a paper ("prescription") that I took to the MRI place, the MRI place submitted it to my insurance, and hasn't even charged me anything yet, although I have already received the claim information from my insurance that they covered it. So, I very much believe neither Dr. Sims office nor the MRI place worked very hard. It was probably just medical diagnosis codes that did it--this is my guess anyway.

 

I noticed on my receipts for the office visits, X-rays, and dental device, the diagnosis codes Dr. Sims used are 784.0 (cephalgia), 723.1 (cervicalgia), 784.0 (head and/or facial pain), 524.10 (mand. disc. to cranial base), 379.91 (pain in/around eye), and 388.30 (tinnitus). Perhaps these things sound medical enough and not dental enough. I was a bit surprised the MRI was covered, and will be more surprised if the rest is covered, but, who knows, maybe it will, maybe dentists are considered enough like doctors and if they are doing "medical" things, it counts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. Your info was very helpful.

 

love_nfp,

 

First of all, my medical coverage with Aetna is just medical coverage as well. This is through my employer, and they offer dental separately which I have taken some years, but not recently, so the MRI was definitely covered through the medical.

 

Regarding the MRI, Dr. Sims office just gave me a paper ("prescription") that I took to the MRI place, the MRI place submitted it to my insurance, and hasn't even charged me anything yet, although I have already received the claim information from my insurance that they covered it. So, I very much believe neither Dr. Sims office nor the MRI place worked very hard. It was probably just medical diagnosis codes that did it--this is my guess anyway.

 

I noticed on my receipts for the office visits, X-rays, and dental device, the diagnosis codes Dr. Sims used are 784.0 (cephalgia), 723.1 (cervicalgia), 784.0 (head and/or facial pain), 524.10 (mand. disc. to cranial base), 379.91 (pain in/around eye), and 388.30 (tinnitus). Perhaps these things sound medical enough and not dental enough. I was a bit surprised the MRI was covered, and will be more surprised if the rest is covered, but, who knows, maybe it will, maybe dentists are considered enough like doctors and if they are doing "medical" things, it counts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More good and bad to report.

 

After wearing the device for 6 days, taking out only for meals, I finally had to take it out yesterday evening, and have kept it out. I am looking to heal flesh wounds in my mouth created from wearing the device. I thought I had slowed into it early on and things were going good, but the continued wearing now seems to be a problem. It is actually not the device rubbing causing the sores, it is my upper wisdom teeth rubbing on flesh that is below/behind them, no doubt from the whole jaw replacement causing rubbing that wasn't there before, perhaps flesh that wouldn't have grown there if my jaw had been there all these years.

 

Yikes! What a difference not wearing it! Besides just getting nervous and confused in head (probably from transition), a phlegm problem that has been around since I hit rock bottom emotionally in June last year and went on disability (inability to think/concentrate/do) and had the flu finally cleared up about a week ago (when I was wearing overnight most nights), and is back in full force this morning.

 

Hoping to heal up soon and try to get it back in, but thinking I may need to go really slow in the beginning to prevent it from just happning again. Yikes!

 

Also, a clue here, more benefits were really kicking in as I got to wearing overnight (meaning, almost all the time, versus just half the time).

 

Is anybody else wearing the device having this problem of getting sores?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today, I brought the journal article and youtube video to the attention of my pediatric dentist. He was very interested. He even told me that his 25 year old son has TS and so he is going to be investigating all of this with me! (After much prayer about this whole issue, I don't think this was a coincindence!) He gave me the name of a TMJ specialist where I live. I am going to contact the specialist on Monday. Will keep everyone posted.....

 

I would like to have faith in humanity and hope that Drs. Sims and Stack will be willing to share any additional info not mentioned in the journal article so that as many people can be helped as possible. On the other hand, they deserve to be rewarded for their work and research if this actually works. If we are able to work with a local doctor and get relief from the tics, I would be willing to pay some sort of consultation fee for their time communicating with my local doctor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

love_nfp

I love your idea about paying consultation fee and working with a local doctor. I have to say i dont think they'll mind. When I called Dr. Stack and he heard I was in California, he hurried to refer me to a doctor here. Turns out that dr. Nordstrom is extremely busy and isnt taking new patients, but I suggest you read about his method called ALF and the way it treats skull and jaw imbalances. I think a doctor treating with this method will be able to take on and do what Dr. Stack and Sims found out. I am adding links to two websites, one telling about the method, the other with a list (not long at all) of practitioners. You'll see that dr. Stack is one of them. I hope one of them is close to you.

 

http://www.alforthodontics.com/Practitione...amp;%20Labs.htm

http://www.holistichealthsource.com/ALF.htm

 

Dalit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Dalit. I just emailed Dr. Stack asking for a referral and offering to pay a consulting fee. Will let everyone know when I get a reply.

 

Dr. Sims told me that, "Most dentists are not familiar with the procedure and it would be difficult for them if they do not know what to look for or how to proceed." He suggested travelling to Maryland.

 

If we have to make the trek there, does anyone have an opinion on how to choose between the two - Dr. Sims or Dr. Stack? Dr. Sims' videos are older than Dr. Stack's which makes me think that maybe Dr. Sims came up with the idea and then consulted with Dr. Stack because he is knowledgeable in the TMJ field??? The receptionist in Dr. Stack's office said that the youtube patient was his first Tourette's patient. I didn't see any other videos of TS patients on Dr. Stack's website, just the 22 year old fellow. The Stack video was posted on June 23rd, 2009. At least one of the Dr. Sims videos goes back to August of 2006 (Lamar). If this is the case, it seems that Dr. Sims has more experience treating TS patients.

 

 

love_nfp

I love your idea about paying consultation fee and working with a local doctor. I have to say i dont think they'll mind. When I called Dr. Stack and he heard I was in California, he hurried to refer me to a doctor here. Turns out that dr. Nordstrom is extremely busy and isnt taking new patients, but I suggest you read about his method called ALF and the way it treats skull and jaw imbalances. I think a doctor treating with this method will be able to take on and do what Dr. Stack and Sims found out. I am adding links to two websites, one telling about the method, the other with a list (not long at all) of practitioners. You'll see that dr. Stack is one of them. I hope one of them is close to you.

 

http://www.alforthodontics.com/Practitione...amp;%20Labs.htm

http://www.holistichealthsource.com/ALF.htm

 

Dalit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

love_nfp,

 

If I remember correctly what Dr. Sims told me when I saw him, he said the Dr. Stacks ran into this procedure first, although the first patient may not have been a true Tourette's patient. And, I will note, if you read the Sims/Stacks paper, you will see that one of the 6 patients was not Tourette's, they had lots of problems. But, I'm not sure who came up with it is ultimately the most important thing. Perhaps experience is important, and if they do it differently, which way makes more sense to you.

 

The Dr. Stacks video looks like the patient was sent home to examine what level adjustment was best. I would have loved if Dr. Sims gave me that option, because I had someone lined up to do kinesiology testing regarding the level of adjustment. Dr. Sims just decided quickly in the office. Maybe he has the experience to do it that way, maybe he got it just right. It's too early for me to say. On the other hand, if the only way Dr. Stacks can decide is to have you play around in a hotel room for a few days, that only works if you have the time to do that and the confidence in your ability to do it.

 

Dr. Sims does seem to be willing to help follow up with people here and the issues they have been having. That can be important. Will Dr. Stacks? I guess we don't know that from this board, we don't have anyone here who went to him.

 

I'm a bit surprised to hear that was Dr. Stacks first patient. Dr. Sims estimated I was roughly number 25. (I was there 2 weeks ago.) A good question for both might be the question I plan to ask Dr. Sims regarding the adjustment he gave me ... is the adjustment based on putting the jaw perfectly into the right place into relation of other bones, or is it based on minimizing symptoms from day 1? It's not obvious to me which would be better long term, but seems like a good thing to discuss before you get into it. (I'm saying that as someone who wished they had, not as someone who actually did it.)

 

Good luck,

 

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think what I got from our visit was that Dr. Sims upon working with TMJ patients and seeing that someone who had "other" symptoms seemed to be helped, then he started trying it out on other patients. I just recall him saying that one woman came in off the street with a broken tooth, and I believe she must have been the woman on the video with "blespharism"? the rapid blinking of the eyes. When he was relaying this experience, the way he put it was " ...I thought, let me try this" (meaning the stick test I suppose) and it looked like the blinking seemed to be releived. so that patient was not exactly there for this procedure, but he maybe used her as an experiment. Perhaps Dr. Stack and he were working on TMJ patients and Dr. Sims took it a step further to see why it seemed to help tics or movements in some patients, and that is why he began his own research.

 

Regarding the level of the spacer that MichaelTampa is referring to, I think that is done with the sticks so it can be seen which level (how many sticks) is needed to seem to releive the tic symptoms. The "adjustments" thereafter would be when the appliance needs to be adjusted to fit in the mouth properly after some months of re-aligning the jaw. (similar to when braces or a retainer needs to be adjusted as the teeth start to straighten and the bite is improved). In the office, he started with two or three for us, and we tried up to 5 while there. To me that was quite high and I still saw my son shake his head, so I did not see any reason to believe that making the device would alleviate the tics. I asked if I could take the sticks with me to keep trying and I had a couple more to add to that. I did try a number of times, but I did not see anything remarkable.

 

Michael, I am kind of wondering why the symptoms you describe that are not tics would be helped with this device? what would those other symptoms have to do with the trigeminal nerve, or any nerve in the body for that matter? Did Dr. Sims believe that they would be helped? I understand that these may be your symptoms of TS, but I'm under the impression that it is "tics" or "movement disorder" that is supposed to be what this device is supposed to be for.

 

As I stated in my post after our trip, I feel like adults with severe, obvious tics may be the ones who are helped the most, but my feelings about this for youngsters is still very mixed. I don't feel like this is fine tuned yet, and so again, and adult with severe ts, what have you got to lose? However, I do feel like Dr. Sims or Dr. Stack, if working with them, or consulting, or whatever, should have a better or clearer explanation of all this, because even those of us who have seen him still seem to be confused and are not exactly well-informed about the whole kit and kabudle, if you get my meaning. It seems we all have bits and peices of conversations and explanations, but nothing solid. I do feel like there is still a little mystery around all this, and I suppose because this is all still kind of new. Wanting to help, and being able to are still two different things. We are talking alot of money here. There's got to be more to go on than just "hope".

 

Faith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...