I’ll save you the scrolling and give you the answer right off the bat. The answer is yes they absolutely can!
Our TMJ Treatment or TMD to more precise.
The muscles of our bite are enormously powerful and when you consider that they reach from our jawline to above our eyebrow and behind our ear, it would be hard to believe that a bad bite wouldn’t cause headaches.
Here’s a video explaining in more detail from a fellow Neuromuscular Dentist in Canada, Dr. Curtis Westersund.
When our muscles don’t like or agree with where our teeth fit together, they fight that position which is how clenching and grinding our teeth begins. Neuromuscular Dentistry is the practice dedicated to finding healthy muscles. You can learn more about it here.
Once the muscles are clenching and grinding, a whole host of problems follow! The most common problems we see are pain in the joint and muscles along with headaches or migraines. There are also a lot of other symptoms that can originate from TMD like dizziness, sleep apnea, ringing in the ears, lockjaw (either open or closed), loose teeth, sensitive teeth, fracturing teeth, numbness in fingertips, temperature sensitive teeth, and all kinds of other facial pain. Whew, that’s some list!
One of the biggies that is often overlooked is neck pain (after all, who could imagine your bite could affect your neck?). Sometimes the symptoms of a bite that is out of position can be relieved when a person hold their head further forward. It is done subconsciously and may mask the symptoms, but now what happens with the muscles of the head & neck that have to hold that position? Yes, you guessed it – more painful muscles!
If you have some of these symptoms, or wonder if you might suffer from TMD, contact us today by calling (907) 277-1098.
