Headache is one of the most common reasons for physician visits by patients. One study tracked 953 headache patients for five years. They made nearly 4,000 visits to doctors in seeking relief from headache. These patients went to every conceivable medical specialty, but only 8% of those visits were to dentists!
Malocclusion can result in sustained muscle contraction leading to pain. Every dentist who has treated patients neuromuscularly knows how often the correction of malocclusion results in eliminating or markedly reducing head and neck pain. Though physicians have identified and classified muscle tension headache, the medical literature is virtually absent of any treatment other than drugs or psychological therapy.
If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. Many of the dentists at the Las Vegas Institute of Advanced Dental Studies are the patients. They have neck or back problems, headaches, TMJ symptoms, ringing in the ears, etc. and wanted to get to the bottom of their health problems. After wearing an orthotic splint over their lower teeth for three days, most of their symptoms disappeared. Why, you ask?
Teeth dominate and the muscles and joints accommodate. Most people have a closed bite and many times the muscles and joints don't accommodate, leading to some of the symptoms above. Most people, including dentists, don't recognize that a neck problem (i.e. disc) could be related to their teeth! Once the jaw is placed in the proper position with an orthotic splint, the muscles which are actually causing all the pain, relax and symptoms disappear. Just as cardiologists, physical therapists and internists can measure muscle activity, the neuromuscular dentist can now measure where the most relaxed state is of the many muscles of the mouth when dealing with the bite. We have brochures at our office which explain this. 1. Myotronics Vol 23, Nov. 07. |
Aesthetic Dentistry
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