You, Your Dentist and Migraine

In this newsletter I will explain how you and your Dentist can work together to uncover your Migraine Triggers.

Migraine Sufferer:

I'm confused. I know that I am getting the best Dental care possible and I feel  very confident in the work that my Dentist is doing for me.  My Dentist also says that there is nothing wrong with my teeth.  But I still suffer from many of the Migraine symptoms that are mentioned on your website.  Why is that?

Dr. BB: 

The area that Dentists are not aware of, is a possible presence of Migraine Triggers between your upper and lower teeth.  These Migraine Triggers do not show when you smile.  Migraine Triggers are caused by Interference, however minor, when you, the patient, fully excurse.  Does your Dentist ever ask you to keep your teeth together and slide your jaw from side to side as far as you can go, because this can show Migraine Triggers.  

Dr. BB:

Now I have a question for you.  When you try to perform that movement just mentioned, do you experience pain, chattering of the lower jaw or even inability to complete these motions? If the answer to my question is "Yes", that you cannot move your jaw smoothly with your lower teeth closed on your upper teeth, in other words "in contact", because you experience pain etc., then you have one or more of the 16 Migraine Triggers already present in your mouth ready to cause your Migraine pain.

Migraine Sufferer:

Dentists I have visited always ask me to tap my teeth together gently whenever they have completed any Dental work in my mouth.  Why do they do that and what are they looking for?

Dr. BB:

Dentists would be looking for any high spots that could cause you to hit those areas first when you close your teeth together.  Instead of having my patients do the "tap-tap" routine, I always use marking paper and ask them to close their teeth together and then to slide (excurse) their teeth, "in contact",  across the marking paper as far as they can go to the left and then as far as they can go to the right, always keeping their teeth together, to identify possible Migraine Trigger areas.  

Migraine Sufferer:

When I make those moves or try to make them, what does that tell the Dentist?

Dr. BB:

When I have my patients use the marking paper and sliding methods, I can quickly and easily see 2 things:

1. if they can or cannot make the left, and right movements due to muscle spasm resulting from Interference between the teeth in the upper and lower Dental arches and,

2. where the areas of Interference are.

Then I can begin to eliminate their Migraine Triggers by treating those areas of Interference.

Migraine Sufferer:  

How else can Dentists check for Triggers of Migraine in my mouth?

Dr. BB:

My first book, "The Myofascial Syndrome Its Causes and Treatment", goes into details listing all the areas of Interference that your Dentist can look for in your mouth and gives the required treatment to eliminate each one. 

Migraine Sufferer:  Is there anything that I can do as a Migraine sufferer, to help my Dentist to locate the potential Migraine Triggers in my mouth?

 Dr. BB:

Yes, there is.  Look at Chapter 16 of my book "Migraine, The Causes and Treatment", for self-examination.

Think of the following comparison between your teeth and cars.  On a  2-way highway, cars meet and almost touch as they pass.  If they maintain their proper positions, no problem in the flow of traffic develops and they look like a moving ribbon.  Similarly, if teeth maintain their proper positions in the arches, no Interference develops and the smile is beautiful to behold.  Teeth ought to glide past each other as cars should.  If a car gets out of line, it can meet an oncoming vehicle, scraping along it  in a damaging fashion. So it is when teeth get out of line. Thus we have the beginning of Migraine Triggers. Back to Top of Page