Dr. Brian Saby's Dental Blog

The world is full of people who suffer from headaches.  Drug companies make billions of dollars with headache remedies.  If you have never had a tension headache, you probably know someone who has.  These headaches can range from mild to debilitating.

There may be a dental reason for your headache.  That pulsing pain behind your eyes or in your temples may be coming from your teeth.  Of course, there are many causes of headaches, but a common cause for tension headaches is related to how the teeth come together.

It is fairly common for people to have “tension” headaches.  These are often more frequent during times of stress.  You know the type.  Your daughter just introduces you to “Snake” her new boyfriend, and shows you his impressive collection of tattoos he got last time he was in jail.  This, the same day your boss suggests that you should do that important project next week even though you have holidays scheduled.  Meanwhile, you discovered that someone thought your new car would look better with pinstripes done with a key.  Wow, Excedrine headache number 4.

What causes the tension in a “tension” headache?  Each tooth has a very sensitive pressure receptor around the root, which help you to chew your food without clashing your teeth.  If your top teeth do not line up perfectly with your bottom teeth, the slight misalignment may cause your jaw muscles to clench.  This can happen during the day, but more frequently occurs at night while you are asleep.  The excessive use of the jaw muscles can make them tense and sore.  The biggest chewing muscles connect to the temple region and that is why your teeth can be a cause of pain in that area.  Other muscles that may be involved are in the cheeks and neck.  You should be able to press firmly on all of these muscles without pain.  There are some smaller muscles which may be affected as well.  Some of these are inside in the jaw area.  Tension in these muscles may produce a pulling sensation behind the eyes. It is not uncommon for a person to have constant pain in these muscles, the background pain would be considered normal and periods of extra pain would be a headache.

If your dentist can determine that your headaches are the result of the way your teeth come together, there are some simple things that can reduce or eliminate these headaches.  Often a protective bite appliance can be placed over the teeth.  This appliance (a splint) will eliminate the bite discrepancy and reduce the headaches.  It will also prevent tooth wear.  If the splint is successful in reducing the headaches then a simple painless bite adjustment may be possible.  This would help relax your muscles when the splint is not in place.

Of course, not all headaches are caused by the teeth, but in the majority of cases where there are sore muscles present, a splint and bite adjustment works wonders.  If you suffer from frequent headaches, it would be a good idea to discuss this problem with your dentist.  A thorough examination of your teeth and bite may provide the answer to your problem with mysterious headaches.  Pain medication may not be the answer as it has been shown that frequent use of mild pain medication may actually cause rebound headaches. (What a great deal for the drug manufactures.)  It is much better to treat the cause of the problem rather than the symptoms.  Dr. Saby may be able to help you solve this puzzle

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 3:20 pm and is filed under What's New. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.