Do you suffer from intense migraine pains throughout the day? Migraines can stop you dead in your tracks, depending on the intensity of them. The throbbing and sensitivity to stimulations around you are enough to drive anyone crazy. One person that can help you with your migraines is the dentist! Here is how dentistry correlates with migraine treatment.
Migraines
A migraine typically feels like an intense throbbing or pulsating feeling in one area of the head. Symptoms depend based on the stage of your migraine. Migraines come in four stages; prodrome, aura, attack, and post-drome. Prodrome symptoms include mood changes, food cravings, neck stiffness, increased thirst, or frequent yawning. Aura follows with visual phenomena, vision loss, weakness or numbness, difficulty speaking, hearing noises, or uncontrollable jerking. An untreated migraine attack ranges from four to 72 hours. During that time, patients experience pain on one or both sides of the head, throbbing or pulsating pain, sensitivity to stimuli, nausea, or vomiting. Lastly, in the post-drome stage, patients feel drained and fatigued up to a day.
Causes
Your headache might be a sign of an oral health problem. Your mouth sends signals to certain areas of your brain. For example, if your jaw is sore, you might experience a headache. One popular cause of headaches is TMJ. TMJ stands for the temporomandibular joint, which acts like a sliding hinge, connecting your jawbone to your skull. According to Mayo Clinic, This movement in the jaw can often create pain depending on your genetics, arthritis, or jaw injury. If you clench your jaw or grind your teeth in the middle of the night and experience pain, you may be suffering from TMJ disorder. One way to treat this problem is to visit your dentist!
Treatment
Your dentist is the best doctor to visit if you are experiencing TMJ pain or intense migraines. In 2011 the FDA approved a new type of treatment for such disorders. Botox is typically thought of as the antidote for younger-looking skin. Not only is it used as a fountain of youth resource, but it is an excellent migraine treatment option. Botox is injected into the affected neck and neck muscles, where TMJ pain begins or resides. From there, the Botox blocks the nerve signals that cause muscle movement. As a result, the muscles naturally relax, releasing or reducing facial pain.
At Westmoreland Dental Group, we offer TMJ and migraine treatments, including Botox. Our staff is highly trained in diagnosing these disorders and administering treatment. The injections take a few minutes and last up to three months. If this treatment is maintained, there is a possibility to retrain the facial muscles. The retraining of these muscles can lead to longer-lasting results and reduce pain! Therefore, decreasing pain immensely.
For more information on migraines, TMJ, and Botox treatments, visit our treatment page here! At Westmoreland, we understand the pain you’re in and will create individualized plans to fix it. In other words, we will do everything possible to provide relief! If you would like to schedule an appointment or learn more, visit our website here or call us at (423) 282-2844. Get rid of your migraines once and for all with our Botox treatment plans today!