Getting to the Cause of Headaches
It is estimated that approximately 45 million Americans have chronic headaches, some of which are migraines. At least half of these people experience headaches severe enough to be disabling some of the time. This can be costly: regular victims of chronic headaches make over 8 million visits to their doctor's office every year. Migraine sufferers alone lose over 157 million workdays due to headache pain. The economic cost of this lost time due to migraines is staggering.
So what is it that hurts when you have a headache? A number of parts of the head can experience pain. There are a large group of nerves over the scalp, which can cause pain. Specific nerves in the face, mouth and throat can also cause headache pain. Probably the most significant part of the head that is sensitive to pain are the muscles of the head and blood vessels along the surface and base of the brain. These muscles and vessels contain very delicate nerve fibers, which can be irritated by changes in the muscles and blood flow to and around the brain.
Neuromuscular Dentistry
Neuromuscular Dentistry is a type of dentistry that is used to treat a variety of symptoms. This can include: Migraine, headaches, jaw pain, clicking or popping in the jaw, neck and shoulder pain and ringing in the ears (tinnitus). As mentioned above, a large number of Americans suffer from headaches. In addition, many others suffer from one or more of these symptoms. Many of these patients have obtained no relieve from their symptoms due to either improper diagnosis or an assumption that there is no physiological cause for their problem. Many of these patient's symptoms can be attributed to what is known as TMJ or (temporomandibular joint syndrome), also known as TMD (temporomadibular joint dysfunction).
If you are suffering from any of the above symptoms, neuromuscular dentistry may be the right headache pain relief treatment for you. Click here to learn more about neuromuscular dentistry treatment and solutions.
