Did you know that the cause of your Chronic head and neck pain could be related to your posture?

Your body understands that in order to survive your food has to be mashed properly The jaw and the muscles will do whatever is necessary to make sure your teeth are doing that, even if the jaw has to move sideways to a poor position. There are a lot of muscles that support Mastication (chewing) even muscles that are located in the Head and Neck. Let us see an example of postural adaptation: Did you ever have a crown or a filling placed and it felt high at the beginning and then you got used to it? Those were your masticatory muscles adapting to a “new bite”, not your tooth adapting to the new treatment. Muscles can only adapt so much, when the system cannot take it any more patient suffers from something called “Dental Distress Syndrome”. Classic symptoms include: Tension headaches, Tooth grinding, Clenching, Migrane Headaches, TMD (Temporo- Mandibular Joint Disorder)

Another thing that affects our posture is the way we breath. Oxygen is essential for survival. Sometimes our lower jaw is locked behind a narrow or undeveloped upper jaw obstructing or making our airway (which is located right behind our tongue) more narrow. Our body will change our posture to a more forward head position to help open the airway, but this also forces your head and neck muscles to a pathological posture that in the long run will cause chronic pain. A lot of these people are suffering from undiagnosed Sleep Apnea

The typical solution we have learned to go for is painkillers when in reality it could be cured.

Here at Upland Lighthouse Dentistry we want to help people be free from Chronic Pain.

Please click on the videos below for more information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Jy0-8QzTY&t=2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C250OOIvViA