I’ve decided to write about a group of practitioners who often refer to Myotherapists that a client may not commonly think of, and that is your Dentist. Why would a dentist refer their patient for Myotherapy treatment? There are a number of reasons but the following are common referrals to Elite Myotherapy from your local dentist.
Bruxism is the process of teeth grinding or jaw clenching. Clients can do this out of habit or during periods of high stress. Often this occurs at night when the client is asleep in different periods of the sleep cycle and often is unaware or unable to stop it due to the different level of consciousness. Some clients require a personalised splint to stop continuous night time bruxism which can be very expensive to purchase. There are a number of muscles which control and move the jaw and I have had clients referred to our services to see if treatment to the jaw muscles such as masseter, temporalis and the pterygoid muscles could help assists in decreasing this habit. We also treat the neck region and incorporate some relaxation techniques to avoid the need for this expensive aid.
Another common reason for referral is to help change or improve the amount of range a client may have with their jaw opening. If a dentist needs to perform intraoral work and the persons jaw (or temporomandibular joint) will not open to full range, Myotherapy treatment can help allow the persons jaw muscles to relax enough to let the dentist have full access to the areas needed. On the opposite end of this having long dental work performed can cause jaw muscles to spasm and shorten after procedures and a client may come in after the dental work is complete.
Tooth/ear pain is a common issue that people will see the dentist for, however trigger point pain from your jaw muscles can feel exactly like a tooth ache. The masseter muscle for example often produces pain that feels like there is an issue in the top molars of your mouth. Having any treatment to the molar in pain will potentially do nothing for the pain as the tooth is perfectly healthy. Treating the masseter muscle however can completely get rid of your tooth pain and the pain referral.
The temporomandibular joint can also cause headaches, neck pain and upper trapezius pain and once treated can relieve a lot of these issues as well.
If you have experienced any jaw or tooth pain before or after any dental work, maybe have a chart to your Myotherapist or give us a call to see if we can help you out.
Cat Bainbridge – Elite Myotherapist
