Dr. Emel Gökmen

On this FAQ page, you can find some details about the treatment that patients are mostly curious about. It is natural to have questions in mind since Gokmen Approach is an unorthodox treatment.

Question: Does the treatment include injections?

Answer: Needles in neural therapy are not being used to inject drugs but to stimulate body’s network.

Question: Do the needles hurt much?

Answer: This treatment do not cause any pain. Even the patients suffering from needle phobia may have it.

Question: Is this a drug treatment? What is there in the needles?

Answer: It is not a drug treatment. Needles contain procaine, a short-active (15-20 minutes) local anesthetic. Neural therapy uses only the bio-electrical effect of procaine. In the amounts used in the treatment, the anesthetic effect is scarcely any and lasts a short time.

Question: Are there any side effects?

Answer: Procaine does not have any side effects. It can even be applied to pregnant women and patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, liver and kidney problems, and heart diseases.

Question: What is procaine?

Answer: It is a short-acting local anesthetic obtained from urtica urens and bitter almond. Its bio-electrical effect is what makes neural therapy successful.

Question: Does it include cortisone?

Answer: Cortisone is never used in the treatment. On the contrary, neural therapy is against the use of it.

Question: Is this similar to other needle treatments?

Answer: No. Other needle treatments use drugs, notably local anesthetics and cortisone. Their aim is suppressing the pain in the respective area while neural therapy aims fixing the network of the system. Yes, neural therapy uses local anesthetics too but the aim and the mechanism of action is completely different. Long-acting local anesthetics do not have any bio-electrical effects.

Question: Is this acupuncture?

Answer: No, it is not but they both have a positive stimulation effect. Acupuncture affects a wider area while neural therapy works specifically for the interference fields. That is why neural therapy is way more effective in pain treatment.

Question: What are the stages in dental treatment?

Answer: It begins with a panoramic X-ray to detect primary problems.

• A special quadrant is defined taking into consideration the patient’s complaints (mouth is split into four as a clock face).
• Unlike general applications in dentistry, treatment begins with the most problematic tooth causing or thought to be causing the pain instead of the most problematic one.
• After controlling the pain, other necessary treatments are suggested.
• On this phase, no dental treatment is applied other than the ones your specialist approved. They are all necessary for dental health.
• As a plus to standard dental treatments, problems that may normally go unnoticed are detected in the light of pain information.
• On each stage, examination and treatment findings are evaluated together with the changes in symptoms. Then the next step is decided and a dental professional is chosen.

Question: My dentist told me that there is nothing wrong with my teeth. How can they be the cause then?

Answer: Dentists are used to working with evident problems on a daily basis hence they do not look for undercover issues. However, the problems they usually ignore may be crucial for these patients. Even minor cavities, a minimal failure in a root canal treatment or a missing tooth are problems as well and the person to detect them is not a dentist. A physician who is competent on Gokmen Approach and manages the pain can detect the real problem and the dentist applies the treatment.

Soru: Yirmi yaş dişlerim normal çıkmış? Nasıl sorun yaratır?

Cevap: Yirmi yaş dişleri güdük organ gibidir. Çiğnemede fonksiyonunda genellikle yeri yoktur. Yirmi yaş dişleri çürük olmasa bile olumsuz uyaran üretir, ağrıyı tetikleyebilir. Bazı diş hekimleri çekilmesine gerek yok dese de akademik olarak yaklaşım çekilmeleri yönündedir.

Question: My wisdom teeth are normal. How can they be the cause?

Answer: Wisdom teeth are like stump organs. Usually they do not function while chewing. Also they cause negative stimulus and trigger the pain even if they do not have cavities. Some dentists may say that it is unnecessary to pull them out but the academic approach is on the contrary.

Question: I have a headache but my teeth are fine. How my headache can be resulting from dental problems?

Answer: Stimulus coming from your teeth disturb the system. You may not be feeling any pain but detecting the relation is your physician’s job. To be able to connect the dots, one needs to understand the system and when you get the treatment, you will realize this as well.

Question: Is this an absolute cure?

Answer: There is no such thing as an absolute cure in the science of medicine. Gokmen Approach fixes the problem causing the pain or other complaints. It is an effective and long-term treatment. As time goes by, new focuses may occur (you may have a tooth decay, a sore throat, a medical operation etc.). You may complain about the new focuses or the ones re-activating but the treatment resumes by evaluating the complaints, detecting the source and fixing it.

Question: I have lots of complaints (headache, herniated disc, knee arthritis, thyroid problems, menstrual irregularity etc.) Do I require separate treatments for each?

Answer: This treatment regulates the system altogether. As the infrastructure gets better, lots of related problems get fixed simultaneously. No other treatment is required. Your physician takes care of each by planning the sessions accordingly.

Question: Do I need to repeat the treatment periodically once I got better?

Answer: In most cases you do not. However, if you can, it is better to be controlled and getting your system checked every once in a while because this treatment is not about relieving the pain. Gokmen Approach is about maintaining a healthy life.