Dr Patel's Articles

When the Pain Just Won't Go Away!

Much too often patients are dismayed to hear doctors say “It's all in your head,” or “You'll have to learn to live with it, there's nothing you can do about it.” Unfortunately, the migraine-like headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, hearing loss, ear ringing, eye, face, head, neck, shoulder, back, hip, leg, or foot problems, etc. were VERY REAL to sufferers. Regardless of whether a symptom relates to the neck, back or any other part, would it ever occur to you to see a dentist? Although it's not your teeth hurting, it may be because of your teeth that other parts are.

Your teeth affect your total health; when the bite or a specific tooth is out of balance, so is the rest of the body. The connections between body pain and imbalance in the bite are very real. By doing adjustments to the teeth and/or a custom fitted oral orthotic, the soreness to the body can be reduced and sometimes even eliminated. This technique has had a positive result with hundreds of patients experiencing a wide variety of ailments from headaches to fibromyalgia, back pain, TMJ, face pain, etc. The process is non-invasive and painless.

Until recently these symptoms, appearing unrelated, were frequently undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as migraine, tension headache, stress, etc. These unexplained, undiagnosed and untreated symptoms can be related to Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) also known as TMJ. Problems within this multipart can produce many symptoms that may appear to be completely unrelated to the jaw. If your bite isn't right, it can affect both the muscles and the joints. A bad bite means that the upper and lower teeth do not come together in a way that provides the proper support for your jaw against the skull. This can result from a missing tooth, misaligned teeth, or back teeth which are ground down and “too short.”

Your upper and lower teeth come together tightly each time you swallow. Doing this over 2,000 times a day makes an unstable bite work the surrounding muscles extra hard. This starts a cycle of tissue damage, muscle tenderness and pain. The position of your teeth can also affect the position of your jaw joints. When working correctly, the ball and socket do not actually touch because a thin disc of cartilage rides between them. The disc is a cushion and allows the joint to move smoothly. If your bite is not right, the joint is pulled out of alignment. The joint itself is now rubbing against the bone and pressing on pain fibers. Mild displacements can cause a clicking or popping sound; more severe displacements can be very painful and cause permanent damage to the joint.

The nerves in the mouth are very sensitive, some of the most in the entire body. The biting surfaces support the jaws and send messages to and from the muscles via the nerves. A problem in that delivery system can cause problems for various parts of the body. Finding the appropriate solution can be difficult when the pain is manifested in a variety of symptoms that may mask the root of the problem. If routine medical testing is not getting answers to your pain and health problems, if may be a dental issue.

Do you have any of the following symptoms?

• MIGRAINES, HEADACHES, TENSION HEADACHES
• DIZZINESS
• NUMBNESS IN FINGERS AND ARMS
• DIFFICULTY SWALLOWING
• LIMITED MOVEMENT OR LOCKING OF THE JAW
• CLICKING OR GRATING SOUNDS IN THE JAW JOINTS
• NECK, SHOULDER, OR BACK PAIN
• FACIAL PAIN
• EARACHES, STUFFINESS OR RINGING IN THE EARS
• PAIN OR SORENESS IN FRONT OF OR AROUND THE EARS
• PAIN BEHIND THE EYES

If so, it may benefit you to see a dentist with TMJ, head, neck and face pain experience. It could change your life.

Appeared in June issue of Chicago Health Magazine