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| What is Neuromuscular Dentistry? Why would I need Neuromuscular dental treatment? How do I know if I have “bite” problems? What does this type of treatment involve? What is Neuromuscular Dentistry? Let us start with traditional dentistry. Dental care today is based on mechanical concepts that assume that your present bite (occlusion) is best for you. Goals include restoring your bite to that position and might be called two-dimensional dentistry. Neuromuscular Dentistry takes into consideration a third and fourth dimension. The third is the status and function of the muscles that control jaw position, chewing, and swallowing. The limits of care also do not assume the issues stops at the base of the head, but care considers a wider view of the whole person. Treatment considers the entire skeletal frame and the physiological processes that happen in this frame. Even minor changes in one part of the skull can ripple throughout the entire body to its benefit or creating pain and dysfunction. The fourth dimension involves the mind and how one feels. So much of what we do is a consequence of feeling well. I often ask the question, “How healthy do you want to be?” Humans are very adaptable and often we stay quite due to lack of concern by others or hopeless attitudes perpetrated by the health care field. Improving your quality of life is always a high priority.
Why would I need Neuromuscular dental treatment?You don’t know what you don’t know. This is an old saying but in a way answers the question. Many people and even many doctors do not realize that muscles play an important role in your health and in dental treatment.Your jaw posturing muscles may be overworked in attempting to maintain your present “programmed” position, even when you think they are relaxed. Head posture affects your bite (occlusion) and muscles that control head posture are primarily in the neck and upper back. Taken together, these conditions can lead to a variety of problems including a poor bite, muscle pain, headaches, sleeping problems, jaw joint problems and a wide range of other physical and emotional disorders. The problems are not limited to the head. As your jaw changes position due to past dental care, orthodontics (even done as a child), accidents, loss of teeth, grinding causing wear; the lower jaw shifts backward and puts pressure on the Temporalmandibular Joint just in front of the ear. This compresses nerves and blood vessels and can cause muscle spasm and pain. In turn this will “throw” the head off in its position and the neckwill take the force. Eventually you will adopt a forward head posture to breath, a tilted pelvis to compensate and canted shoulders from neck bones being pushed out of position.
How do I know if I have “bite” problems?Some of the common symptoms include:
What does this type of treatment involve?The goal of care is to have a jaw position that is associated with relaxed posturing muscles. The position must be measured. That word “measured” is key. If it can be measured it is a fact, if it cannot then it is just an opinion. To gain physiologically relaxed muscles we use a device that allows your muscles to not know where they are in space. Thus, they do not know where your teeth are now and so will relax to a position that is comfortable; what is called resting length. We record this position and provide often an orthotic to confirm this position and allow time for healing of damage tissues. The process is quite involved. I feel it is critical to one’s best health and often solves problems one has never even thought were related. So time that is taken is well spent in examinations, models, photos, questionnaires, orthotics, as well as finish treatment.
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