If you suffer from headaches or migraines, you may be suffering from a poor bite position. Our advanced training, newest technologies, and experience are going to give you the best chance for return to total comfort.
Recent research has suggested that over 90% of headaches, including migraine, have a muscular origin. Many of these muscle-related headaches can be directly correlated to functional problems with the bite.
If your bite is not in the ideal position then your jaw cannot rest where it wants to. This can lead to muscle spasm, joint derangement, and postural problems.
Headaches are one of the most common symptoms of a TMJ (temporomandibular joint) problem. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache, and the TMJ headache is a tension type of headache. It is often described as a feeling of wearing a hat two sizes too small, with pain in a ring around the head, or as a migraine headache.
There are a few TMJ-related causes for tension headaches. Poor bite position can cause constant contraction of muscle fibers within a muscle, creating tension, pressure or a tight feeling in the face and head. Constant tight muscle fibers prevent or reduce blood flow to that area. The body responds by sending more blood to the areas and this can result an increase in general blood pressure to the muscles and head, sometimes referred to as vascular headaches.
Clenching and grinding the teeth, which are TMJ symptoms, can produce spasm and pain in muscles within the head, which is a typical tension headache. These headaches can be so frequent or severe that they are often diagnosed as migraine headaches.
The pain from muscle headaches can be blocked with medications, or nerves cut with brain surgery or muscles somewhat relaxed with muscle and psychological therapy, but the cause of the disease and damage from the bad bite will persist without dental intervention. Side effects with medications, complications from brain surgery, and limited results with muscle or psychological therapy do not correct the source of the problem. Neuromuscular dentistry fixes the bite so that the muscles are healthy because they do not have to overwork themselves to position the teeth to a strained bite.
By putting the temporomandibular joint back into alignment and placing the jaw into its optimal position, neuromuscular dentistry can alleviate many headache problems.
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