The way in which your teeth meet and slide over each other can have a direct link to tension headaches, migraines and jaw joint problems (TMJ).

The majority of these problems are in fact due to muscle spasm (especially if relieved by painkillers such as ibuprofen). It is the muscle-induced pain with which we have almost total success in curing.

Other conditions connected to a poor bite include neck ache, earache, facial pain, loose teeth, gum recession, sensitive teeth and worn down teeth.

Teeth heavily worn due to night time tooth grinding with associated headaches / neck and shoulder pain.

The reason that the bite can cause these many different problems is extremely complicated and not fully understood, in principle however it due to an imbalance between the teeth and the muscles:

The muscles are designed to pull the jaw joints in to their best fitting position - with the muscles on either side of the face in balance, as the teeth come together they should meet perfectly with the jaw joints staying in position. Unfortunately this rarely occurs and were the jaw joints to stay in position then only one tooth would hit.

Teeth appearing to meet perfectly.

Actual bite position when jaw joints are gently manipulated to correctly seated position.

Carbon paper markings showing only two or three teeth touching with jaw joints in correct position.

The jaw joint (TMJ) is a unique sliding / hinging joint and the two joints can move together to help as many teeth contact as possible and achieve a comfortable effective bite position.

Obviously in order to achieve as many teeth contacting as possible the jaw is twisted away from its ideal and as a result the muscles are no longer in balance. It is believed that beyond a certain tolerance point over-activity of the muscles takes place resulting in the headaches, pain and other related problems.

If diagnosed as a muscle problem treatment is straight forward (in principle!): position the jaw joints in the most ideal position (where the muscles are in balance and the pain dissipates) and either construct an artificial bite platform, to be worn during problem periods, or adjust / restore the teeth to meet in this position.

Acrylic splint adjusted to provide muscle relaxation

For more information on these problems please visit www.BSOS.co.uk

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