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Neuromuscular
Dentistry focuses on the healthy relationship between
the teeth, jaw joints, and head and neck muscles. A problem
bite occurs when your upper and lower teeth don’t
come together properly. This can cause sore, stiff muscles
and joints and cause headaches, muscle pain, and jaw
pain. Further, it can lead to damage of your teeth and
jaw joints and also shorten the life of your dental restorations.
With new techniques and technologies available at McKenzie
Dental, we can diagnose the problem and help you achieve
healthier and more comfortable muscles and jaw joints,
and a more comfortable bite.
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Neuromuscular
treatment is often completed in two phases. The first
phase is to relieve pain and stabilize your bite. Once
a more comfortable jaw position is achieved, a custom
orthotic (splint) is made. You'll wear the splint for
several months, or indefinitely. The second phase of
treatment involves a permanent solution to fixing the
bite, either with orthodontics, implants, or crowns and
bridges. |
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benefits of neuromuscular dentistry range from reduced
discomfort, resulting from an improved bite, to longer
lasting dental restorations. Another benefit is to reduce
wear on natural enamel due to a decrease in night time
habits such as clenching and grinding. |
Traditional dentistry is based on mechanical
concepts that
assume that your present bite is in a relatively correct
position.
Such dental treatment generally aims to restore your bite
to that
position. Neuromuscular dentistry takes into consideration
the status and function of the muscles that control the
jaw position.
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Please
see if you suffer from any of the below symptoms that may
indicate neuromuscular involvement.
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| Neuromuscular
Dentistry: A) TENS
In
order to improve the bite, we need to overcome the programming,
or memory, of the muscles that close your jaws to a bad
bite. For millions of people, the jaw muscles are subconsciously
held in abnormal, continual contraction through the process
of proprioception. This is a result of habitual jaw position
that many people have accommodated to over their lives.
Jaw
muscle stimulation is provided by an instrument called
Myomonitor, also referred to as TENS. A gentle electrical
stimulation helps the jaw muscle reach a relaxed state.
The stimulus delivered by the Myomonitor will cause your
facial and jaw muscles to pulse once every one and one
half seconds. Usually after 45-60 minutes, this electrically
induced exercise will allow your muscles to overcome
their programming and go to a physiologically relaxed
state. Once your muscles are relaxed, the dentist will
confirm and record the jaw position with a bite registration
material.
TENS
is an excellent procedure to help people with chronic
and acute TMJ pain by relaxing the appropriate muscles
and capturing the more comfortable position of the lower
jaw. Once the comfortable position is obtained, we can
fabricate a special orthotic (splint) that can help many
TMJ sufferers.
Neuromuscular Dentistry: B) EMG/K7
Surface
Electromyography (EMG) |
K7
is available at our office, which represents the latest
and state-of-the-art EMG equipment on the market today.
K7
has many uses in advanced dentistry, but most important
we can measure the physiological function of our jaw
muscles and jaw movements. By measuring the pertinent
muscle activity we can place crowns, veneers and onlys
in a physiologically comfortable position that is in
harmony with the rest of the structure of head and neck.
K7
works in tandem with TENS to provide our dental team
with the information to diagnose and treat difficult
bite problems that were previously untreated and/or undiagnosed.
K7
is an excelled adjunct to achieving excellent cosmetic
and dental reconstruction procedures.
See
below for details. |
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