Headaches
Do you or someone you know suffer from chronic headaches or Migraines? Usually these people have seen a variety of different doctors, with little if any relief. Their symptoms are being treated, but the cause of the problem still persists. Ever thought about seeing your dentist for a migraine? Well that is just one of the conditions that Neuromuscular dentistry is being used to treat. Neuromuscular dentistry is one of the new technologies available in dentistry today. It is different from regular dentistry in that it focuses on the muscles of the jaw and neck and how they are related to the teeth.
Neuromuscular dentistry recognizes that the muscles that move the jaw must be in a comfortable, relaxed position in order to not be in conflict with the teeth and jaw joint i.e. we must have ” happy muscles.” ? Some of the symptoms that occur when we do not have these” happy muscles” include: Headaches, Loose teeth, Clenching or grinding, root abfractions, Pain or clicking and popping in the jaw joints, Shoulder, neck, and back pain, Numbness in arms and fingers, non-specific Facial pain, problems swallowing , hot or cold sensitive teeth ,Crowded teeth , Receding gums , Ringing or congestion in the ears. A person could experience Migraine headaches and no other symptoms for example, yet be suffering from a neuromuscular dental problem.
There are a number of different types of equipment used in Neuromuscular dentistry to help us get a person to a position of “Happy Muscles”. First, we must find a position at rest that is most comfortable for the patient. . This is position where the muscles are relaxed, regardless of where the teeth line up. A device known as the Myo-monitor is used to help relax the patient’s muscles. It is a low frequency T.E.N.S. (Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation)unit. The Myo-monitor stimulates the Trigeminal Nerve and The Facial nerve using a very mild electrical impulse.
This TENSing accomplishes 3 things. First, It pumps waste metabolites and lactic acid away from the stressed muscles. Second, it increases the blood flow to the muscle, which increases the oxygen, glucose, and energy to the muscle itself. Finally, it allows the jaw to relax into its ideal position. Tensing usually takes 45- 60 minutes depending on how bad a patients symptom are and how tight their muscles are. Sometimes we will use an EMG machine to measure the level of tightness in the different muscles. Before tensing ,the EMG shows how hyperactivity of the muscles. After TENSing there is much less activity and the muscle are much “happier”.
After TENSing and finding the ideal position of the jaw where the muscles are happy, we make an appliance called an orthotic to keep the muscles in this position. Keeping the muscles in this position is very important because it allows them to remain at their ideal length, which prevents them from going into spasm. Again, we want to get to a state of “Happy Muscles”.
Wearing the orthotic allows the muscles to heal, pain to dissipate and/or disappear and the jaw joint to heal. The orthotic is usually worn for 1-3 months to make sure the bite is correct and that the symptoms disappear. Once the patient has become symptom free, we make a decision about Phase 2 of treatment. The patient may decide to wear the orthotic indefinitely, have orthodontic treatment done to move teeth into the correct position, have the teeth restored or adjust the teeth to their ideal bite.
The following three patient cases recently came to me for migraine treatment.
Alan is a 68-year-old male with a history of migraine headaches 6-10 times per month for the past 25 years. “I had seen every imaginable type of doctor in the country, including the Mayo clinic. Nothing would stop the headaches; just control the pain with drugs. It got to the point where I had to carry narcotics with me everywhere I went.” Alan was treated using neuromuscular dentistry and is now virtually headache free. “I am so happy with the results of my treatment. I am practically headache free and don’t have to take any headache medications anymore. What a relief after all these years.”
Barbara is a 43-year-old mom of three with a history of headaches and stiff neck for the past 7 years. She had seen numerous physicians, specialists, chiropractors and acupuncturists over the years. “Nobody was able to stop the headaches and I haven’t been able to move my neck completely for 1 and