Headaches? It Could be TMJ

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Francisco, California, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 5, 2012 -- Chronic, debilitating headaches affect millions of people in the United States every year. For chronic conditions such as cluster and migraine headaches, it is not uncommon for people to develop a dependence on prescription medications that treat the symptoms, but ignore the underlying problem.

While it remains unknown what causes these headaches, there is substantial evidence to support a link between temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) and chronic, persistent headaches. When TMD is the underlying cause of your headaches, a simple treatment from a neuromuscular dentist can be all it takes to provide you with long-lasting, prescription-free pain relief.

How TMD Causes Headaches

Your temporomandibular joint is the joint where your jaw meets your skull. This joint can become distressed due to a number of factors, causing jaw misalignment and symptoms including clicking in the jaw, limited jaw mobility, uneven tooth wear, jaw pain, spasms, teeth clenching, and headaches among others.

There are several major nerves that run through this area, including your trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for 70 percent of your body’s nerve input into the brain. When the muscles in your jaw become stressed and tense due to misalignment, they press on these nerves. The end result is often debilitating headaches that are frequently undiagnosed because the jaw joint is not considered a culprit.

During your regular dental examinations, you should talk to your dentist about your headaches. A dentist with training in neuromuscular dentistry can perform a thorough evaluation of your jaw and detect the presence of TMD. If TMD is detected, several simple solutions can be used to correct the problem, and restore comfort and function.

Treating TMD

The most common treatment for TMD is the use of oral devices such as a mouthguard or an oral splint. Both of these devices are worn during sleep to gently help relax the muscles in your jaw, and restore your jaw to its proper alignment. Once realigned, the symptoms of TMD, such as headaches, will be relieved. These noninvasive, effective solutions are an ideal alternative to a life-long dependence on pain medications. This is not only because they are equally effective at reducing pain, but because they treat the underlying problem, and prevent the symptoms from occurring again.

If you suffer from chronic headaches and live in or around San Ramon, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, or Diablo, California, please visit the website of neuromuscular dentist Sean Michael Anderson, D.D.S. at Neuromuscular & Aesthetic Cosmetic Dentistry to learn more about your TMD treatment options today.

http://www.drseananderson.com

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