Migraines

Migraines and Dentistry
Tension headaches often accompany migraines and many sufferers accept then as part of the condition.
These individuals often suffer with fatigue (despite getting 7-8 hours sleep).
The reason for this is quite simple. Tooth clenching and grinding stops you from entering deep, restful, refreshing sleep. Additionally, this grinding and clenching fatigues the muscles and causes tension headaches.
You have no control over clenching and grinding of your teeth. It’s pre-programmed into the same part of the brain that deals with breathing and heart rate. However with correct management, we can reduce the intensity at which this occurs, limit the muscle tension and protect the jaw and teeth from damage.
When people clench and grind their teeth, they overload the sensory input part of the brain. They wake up with this part of the brain effectively fatigued and it takes very little to push this over the edge. The result is a full blown migraine.
Other triggers also exist but many sufferers have gained significant benefit from bite splint therapy often combined with cranial and/or osteopathic treatment.
Effective bite splint therapy is provided by dentists who have trained in this area at a postgraduate level and should be a course of treatment (several visits over a few months) rather than a one visit experience. Dr. George at The Courtyard Clinic has had this training in the US and often co treats her patients with local craniosacral osteopaths aswell.