An article in Cephalgia should be of great interest to Chicago Patients suffering from headaches or migraines. The study showed that over 80% of all patients experiencing headaches also had masticatory muscle pain, or pain in the jaw muscles. This is critical information because referred muscle pain is a primary cause of all headaches It is the primary source of pain in tension headache and chronic daily headaches but is also implicated as a trigger or exacerbating factor in all headaches. Learn more at www.thinkbetterlife.com

Headches are a Trigeminal Nerve Disorder and the largest input to the trigeminal nervous system are the jaws, the jaw muscles, the jaw joints, the teeth and the periodontal ligaments. The utilization of medications can be a godsend to patients suffering headaches but the single best treatment of headaches may be prevention. Neuromuscular Dentistry often referred to as physiologic dentistry is specifically designed to reduce nociception or bad input to the trigeminal nervous system. Learn more about headache prevention and elimination at www.ihateheadaches.org

Medical Treatment of headaches usually uses a wide variety of powerful, and sometimes dangerous medications Neuromuscular Dentistry offers a more holistic approach to treatment and elimination of headaches. A diagnostic neuromuscular orthotic is utilzed to change the nervous input to the CNS from the trigeminal Nerve. Good input creates a healthier environment inside the brain where the type, quantity and mix of neuropeptide and neurotransmitters determine who will and who will not have pain.

The diagnostic orthotic can also change blood flow to the meninges of the brain. Vascular headaches are the result of inappropriate blood flow levels to the meninges of the brain. This control of blood flow to the brain is determined by the trigeminal nervous system and is greatly influenced or controlled by input from the teeth, jaw muscles and related structures.

VISIT www.thinkbetterlife.com if you are tired of living in pain.

PubMed abstract of reference artiicle for your convenience
Cephalalgia. 2010 Jan;30(1):37-41. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2982.2009.01866.x.
Application of ICHD-II criteria for headaches in a TMJ and orofacial pain clinic.
Kang JK1, Ryu JW, Choi JH, Merrill RL, Kim ST.
Author information
Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify and diagnose headache in a temporomandibular joint and orofacial pain clinic population using the second edition of The International Classification of Headache Disorder criteria. In 502 temporomandibular disorder and orofacial pain patients, 246 patients (49%) were diagnosed with tension-type headache (TTH), followed by migraine without aura (14.5%), probable migraine (12.9%), migraine with aura (7%), probable TTH (4.8%) and cluster headache (0.2%). The prevalence of headaches was compared between male and female patients, and the prevalence of migraine was found to be higher in women than in men. In evaluating by age, the prevalence of migraine was highest in patients in their 20s and 30s and declined as age increased above 40. TTH showed the highest rate throughout all age groups, but it also decreased as age increased. In this study, the prevalence of migraine was lower than that reported in Dr Kim et al.’s study, and the prevalence of TTH much higher than that reported in the previous study. Of the headache patients, 81.1% presented with masseter muscle pain and 47.8% with temporal muscle pain. This finding suggests that pericranial muscle pain may be an inducing factor of primary headache.