Migraine Headaches
and Your Bite
in Orlando, Florida
Do you suffer from migraine headaches? Sometimes people visit a doctor for headache relief and receive a painkiller prescription and perhaps many tests, but no explanation of what is causing their headaches. In some cases a cause may be found, such as a tumor or an abnormal or damaged artery in the head. But in many cases, pain relievers are the person's only remedy and the cause of the pain is never determined.
If you see yourself in the above scenario, you might want to consider a visit to our holistic dentistry office because the cause of your recurring headaches may be dental. It can be diagnosed by a qualified neuromuscular dentist and treated so that your pain will be gone. Those migraine headaches may be stemming from a "bad bite" - one or both of your jaw joints may be out of alignment.
Headaches and the Jaw Joints
Severe headaches are one of the most common symptoms of a bad bite - malocclusion in dental language, and also known as Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ or TMD). Please see our page on Neuromuscular Dentistry for more about TMD. There are many other TMD symptoms besides headaches, most of them uncomfortable or painful. For more on how TMD causes headaches, please see TMJ and Headaches.
TMD is an imbalance in the bite. It means that the upper and lower teeth are not meeting properly, and the jaw muscles have become chronically stressed in trying to make them do so. When this goes on for months or years, one becomes accustomed to it and in fact, most people who have TMD do not know they have it.
The chronic muscle tension can give rise to further symptoms such as teeth grinding and jaw clenching. In turn, these habits can increase facial and head pain, and in this way a vicious cycle is set up that can be hard to break.
Diagnosing the Bite
Dr. Castellini is a qualified neuromuscular dentist trained at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI).
To properly diagnose the bite, special equipment is needed to gather the necessary information. We have three types of technology to accurately diagnose your bite:
- The K7 Evaluation System - a computerized tool for measuring and recording jaw muscle movements, jaw muscle electrical activity, and jaw joint sounds;
- The i-CAT imaging system - which creates 3-D images of the head and neck areas; and
- A thermographic camera.
1. Using the K7 System
There are three phases to the testing and for each, we will ask you to wear a tracking device.
- To track the jaw muscle movements, a frame structure is placed on the shoulders and against the forehead. It is lightweight and padded for comfort. It holds eight sensors that track the movement of a small magnet attached to the lower gums. It will record your jaw's range of motion.
- To track the jaw muscle electrical activity, a small device is placed around your neck. It has some electrodes that are attached to the jaw and temple areas and they will register activity both when the jaw is moving and when it is at rest.
- To track the jaw joint sounds, a different device is placed around your neck and a light headset over your head. It has a vibration transducer on each side to record sounds and correlate them to how open your mouth is.
2. Using the i-CAT Imaging System
This computer-controlled system takes only seconds to produce 3-D images of your jaw joints. It creates views from several viewpoints to show exactly how your upper and lower jaws are connected and how they move in relation to each other. There is little radiation to you because of the speed at which it works - about eight seconds total time.
3. Thermography in Diagnosing TMD
Thermography, or thermal imaging, is the use of infrared photography to show areas of relative heat in the body and it is useful in many areas of medicine. It can detect breast or skin cancer before an X-ray will reveal its presence and it helps in diagnosing many conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, whiplash injuries, and nerve damage.
In our dental office, we use it to help diagnose TMD. When your jaw muscles are chronically stressed and inflammation has set in, those muscle areas will show up in infrared imaging. Please see our page on Thermal Imaging for more information.
When we have done these diagnostic tests, we will know exactly how your jaw joints are causing your migraine headaches and will be able to plan a custom treatment for you.
Because Dr. Castellini is an LVI-trained neuromuscular dentist, she will conform all your dental restorations to your correct jaw position, thus preventing any recurrence of TMD symptoms such as headaches. Please see TMD Questions for more about this painful dental condition.
To learn more about how your bite can cause severe headaches, please see Dr. Castellini's interview on The Wellness Hour with Randy Alvarez.
If you have been suffering from migraine headaches and would like Dr. Castellini to check you for TMD, the first step would be to contact us for a personal consultation. Our office serves Orlando, Florida, and we look forward to meeting you.
Disclaimer:
The information on this site page is for general education and information only.
It is not offered as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or care. We run a dental practice and can diagnose and treat dental disease. We offer
guidance and counseling for improved nutrition but we are not
medical doctors. Please see your physician for all other
medical treatment and for any medications
they might require.
7350 Sand Lake Commons Blvd.
Orlando, Florida 32819
(407) 351-2245 | Contact Us
