What would you do on a day that you didn’t have a headache or a migraine — and you knew that nothing you did on that day could cause a headache or migraine? Really — what would you do?? Would you be the real you — the you you want to be?

More that half of ALL head, neck, and facial pain is referred pain from muscles caused by an unbalanced bite when the teeth don’t come together correctly. And a new diagnostic examination can accurately determine if the cause of the pain is a bite force imbalance and if our dentomandibular rehabilitation can relieve the pain.

Regardless of how many professionals you have seen, how many medications you have been on, how many treatments you have been through, and what you have been told, in about than 60 minutes you can find out if our new specialized technology called dentomandibular rehabilitation can help stop the pain with no drugs, no needles, and no surgery.

One out of eight Americans suffer from chronic headaches, and many are so bad that they cannot live normally! About 80 percent of all headaches result from tension in muscles, and many of these headaches are related to an unbalanced bite — teeth that do not come together correctly.

How can your unbalanced bite cause a headache? Your body wants to be in 100 percent balance, and when the teeth do not come together correctly, your muscles keep trying to reposition the lower jaw so that the teeth come together correctly. This causes muscle strain, or contraction. When muscles are strained for long periods of time, they begin to form lactic acid, trigger points, and scar tissue, and then they refer pain to other areas of the head and neck. The pain may be on one or both sides of your head, it may surround your head as if a steel band were wrapped around it, or it may feel like a dull, non-throbbing ache.

The muscles which control your jaw and hold your head upright are very complex. Many people do not realize that every time they swallow, their upper and lower teeth try to come together in a firm and balanced way to brace the lower jaw against the skull. And we swallow over 2000 times every day! So if your bite is unbalanced from poorly aligned teeth, a missing tooth, or an accident (whiplash), the muscles must work harder to try to bring the teeth together properly. Your muscles never get a break since you need to swallow so often! The overworked muscles become strained and eventually become painful, develop trigger points and scar tissue, and refer pain. The pain may be felt in the muscle which is strained; but, many times the pain is “referred” to other areas of the head, neck, face, and even the teeth

Your head, which weighs about the same as a bowling ball-15 pounds, is balanced on top of your spine by muscles in your jaw, neck, shoulders, and back. Imagine a softball balanced on top of a pencil by several rubber bands. This is like your head, your spine, and your muscles. When muscles are tense, they shorten. Imagine if just one of those rubber bands was shortened. Some of the other rubber bands would stretch, others would be shortened, and the softball would be thrown off center! Similarly, when even a single muscle in the jaw, neck, or face becomes shortened, all of the other muscles are forced to overwork to get the head balanced back on top of the spine.

You can see then that headaches can originate from an unstable bite which cause the muscles of the jaw, head, and neck to overwork, become stressed, form lactic acid, form trigger points and scar tissue, and become painful. Once the muscles become painful, a vicious cycle begins. The pain makes you feel tense and uptight. This worsens the muscle spasm, which in turn increases the pain.

To determine if your headaches are caused by an unbalanced bite, you will need an examination of your teeth, your muscles, and your jaw joints. If the cause is an unbalanced bite, the treatment will involve eliminating trigger points and scar tissue in the muscles and correcting your bite so that the muscles can function without extra strain and tension. This is called advanced forced balanced dentistry and neuromuscular rehabilitation.

Heartfelt Headache Relief, located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is proud to offer patients in the Inland Northwest the most recent advancements in force balanced dentistry for the reduction and elimination of headache and migraine pain as well as vertigo (dizziness) through dentomandibular rehabilitation. If you are suffering from chronic headaches or migraines, then find out if it is from an unbalanced bite. The diagnostic examination is focused on revealing the root cause of the pain, and the treatment targets those root causes without drugs, needles, or invasive surgical procedures.

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Dr. Donald Johnson founded Heartfelt Headache Relief in Coeur d’Alene to help patients stop their pain and live free with no limits! His office is at 114 W. Neider Ave., near Costco. The website for more information is www.HeartfeltHeadacheRelief.com and the office phone is (208) 667-4551. Schedule an appointment today!