At Home Diagnosis of Craniofacial TMJ Headaches
Bad Bite Occlusion Misaligned Jaw Tinnitus Ear Pain
Popping Clicking Depression Neck Shoulder Pain
| Self Diagnostic Check List | Diagnose Migraine Headache Pain Etiology | TMJ TMD Dysfunction Michigan |
| Temporomandibular Dysfunction Diagnostic Checklist At Home Diagnosis of Craniofacial TMJ Headaches Bad Bite Occlusion Misaligned Jaw Tinnitus Ear Pain Popping Clicking Depression Neck Shoulder Pain |
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Michigan TMJ
Headache Institute Dr. John Halmaghi 300 E. Long Lake Suite 290 Bloomfield Hills, MI (248) 646-1642 |
Self Diagnostic Check List
It may be possible for you to do some self-diagnosis in order to
explain why you have head pain. The following are some identifying
characteristics for people who are predisposed to head pain.Please remember that it is the balance between your jaws, skull bone, and neck that determines your diagnosis and treatment guidelines. Head pain (including migraines, headaches, earaches, neck problems, etc.) is a symptom of a neuromuscular and skeletal imbalance above your shoulders. Once you find out where the imbalance is, the cure is normally quite simple. 1. Do your jaws look like they’re out of alignment?The most common problem is an overbite, indicative of a deficient lower jaw. Possible causes may be growth disturbances during infancy either due to genetics or possibly enlarged tonsils and adenoids that have prevented or stunted proper jaw growth.
An overbite is easy to diagnose by noticing that your lower
teeth fit too far underneath your top teeth. This may be only slightly
discernible, while in some patients it is so obvious that the lower
teeth disappear behind the upper teeth when they bite down all the way.
The problem with this relationship is that the muscles that connect the
lower jaw to the skull bone overpower the lower jaw, causing it to
compress the joint, skull bone, and brain tissue.
It is important to realize that there are over 300 muscles that attach
to the jaws, skull, and neck. 298 of these muscles do one and only one
thing: they close the lower jaw, squeezing it into the skull bone (in
close intimacy to the brain tissue)! Any misalignment problems, or
deficiencies, cause compression and dysfunction in the joint, skull
bone, and brain.Furthermore, it is critical to realize that human beings use their lower jaw over 5,000 times a day. Think about what would happen if you tried to ride 1,000 miles on a bicycle that had missing spokes. A small lower jaw can also be a sign that the sutures (growth plates of your skull) have not developed properly and may be calcified, thereby causing a generalized “tightening” of all of the bony plates of your head. This leads to a skull bone that is nonresilient and very rigid. Healthy skull bones have flexible suture lines that allow for an overall elastic function of the skull, just the way springs and shock absorbers allow your car to go over bumps. Calcified plates indicate a struggle of the skull to maintain proper function. Think about your car working without coil springs and shock absorbers! This is what happens with many overbite patients and chronic pain sufferers. They become wheelbarrows! 
Class III underbite (big lower jaw) also causes jaw muscle
irregularities. The lower jaw becomes too powerful for the joint. The
upper jaw is not strong enough to “house” and support the lower jaw.Severe and Mild Underbite: In this first photo, a severe underbite, the dynamics are easy to observe. Muscular dysfunction results due to this improper jaw to jaw relationship. The lower jaw is simply too strong for the upper jaw and the skull bone. 
The second photo, representing a milder case of Class III underbite, is
subject to the same principles but is more difficult to diagnose (note
the differences in size between the upper and lower jaws). Eventually, things give out and pain sets in. This is one of the most difficult problems to address, therefore proper treatment must be carefully evaluated. 2. Have you had previous orthodontic care?Orthodontic care straightens teeth, but the majority of orthodontic care does not address the jaw to jaw relationship or the jaw joint function. If your teeth are straight but the jaw to jaw relationship is not corrected properly, then you can develop slow lingering problems with the jaw joints.The adjacent photo reveals the lack of orthodontic treatment for a crowded teeth condition. This teenaged patient had a history of headaches caused by this unbalanced jaw relationship. 
Some studies show that 50% of patients that complete orthodontic
treatment end up having jaw dysfunction and eventual head pain problems.This is especially true for patients who have received premolar extractions. Taking out these teeth causes the jaws to shrink, consequently constricting the jaw function and compressing the jaw joints. Many migraine sufferers have received this type of care. Even if your teeth look perfectly straight, it does not mean that your jaws align properly. Many of the patients that we see look like they have Hollywood teeth. Unfortunately, what the orthodontics accomplished and what genetics gave you may not be in harmony. Don’t let a perfect smile or a perfect bite fool you! 3. No signs of any problemsPatient is having absolutely no jaw pain or muscular pain in chronic migraine sufferers...no signs of a TMJ or jaw problem whatsoever! These patients visit their dentist, physician, and many other specialists who cannot detect a TMJ problem due to the fact that the jaw joint exhibits no noises or signs of pain. This is very common with chronic pain patients, especially migraine sufferers. The explanation is as follows: the joints slowly became “plasticized” over time due to compression. The protective disk slowly resorbed, over time, with no apparent signs of pain or problems. The joint itself adapted to the dysfunction by smoothing out the skull bone and the head of the lower jaw (the condyle). The “hyalinized” bone (smoothed bone) makes no noise or causes no pain within the joint itself because it has polished itself in an effort to protect the area. The problem, however, comes with time as the surrounding tissues, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and brain sense the dysfunction and start to cause head pain. This is the most commonly misdiagnosed and missed problem in today’s headache war.4. Do you get frequent sinus infections and sore throats?If you have exhausted the medications prescribed by your ENT doctor then maybe the true cause is a jaw problem. Even if you don’t have headaches or other symptoms, jaw imbalance problems can lead to sinus issues. The muscles of the jaws attach directly to the sinuses.5. Chronic neck and shoulder pain?The jaws and your neck/shoulder work in tandem. If one is out of alignment, the other cannot be balanced. Proper treatment can only be accomplished by taking into consideration all working parts. Physical therapy and chiropractic may work temporarily, but they will not provide any long term healing without functional jaw treatment.6. Do you have a hard time getting numb?Whether for dental procedures or experiencing unusual complications after dental work, the problem may not be your dentist, but pinched nerves either in the jaw joint or between tight muscles. Forget about being comfortable and numb during dental procedures, until you treat the underlying muscle and nerve problems7. Do you wear dentures or partials?This is an easy one! Dentures cannot support your jaws. They are plastic, inefficient excuses for the loss of your teeth. Most denture wearers eventually reach a stage of dysfunction that is hard to repair. Your jaws may no longer have any support left since you lost your natural teeth and your dentures are no more than a set of band-aids. Denture wearers are predisposed to wearing down their joints because it is practically impossible to support the jaws in the right position. Dentures are not stable enough to provide adequate jaw to jaw relationships. This leads to dysfunction within the jaw joint, over time. Furthermore, the jaw bones shrink with age and continuous pressure from the dentures. As the jaws shrink, the dentures become “looser” and more unstable. Many denture wearers reach the point where they can no longer wear their artificial teeth due to the bone loss factor. The only solution for your problem is to place implants in your jaws and find proper stabilization of your dentures, thereby improving the stability and function of your jaw joints. You will need a team of skilled dentists and oral surgeons!8. Have you lost back teeth?Just as bad as an overbite. No support for the jaw joint! Compression of the jaws results due to lack of support from your teeth. The joint wears out!9. Crowded teeth?
Never finished your orthodontics? Not necessarily a predisposing
factor, unless the jaw to jaw alignment is bad. Don’t let your
orthodontist tell you that he/she can cure all of your head pain by
straightening your teeth. Straight teeth does not necessarily mean
proper jaw to jaw alignment. Only your skull and jaws can tell you
where the proper alignment is…not your teeth!10. Do you grind or clench your teeth?This is one of the most common and widespread problems affecting a large segment of the population. As the teeth wear down from continuous grinding and/or clenching, so do the joints. The teeth lose their ability to support the proper jaw to jaw balance. As the teeth wear down they lose the ability to support the jaws and the jawjoints.11. Do you feel tired during the day?May be a symptom of your pain, or possibly sleep disturbance problems. Most pain patients require a sleep study. The chicken may have come before the egg, but if you’re having fatigue problems you need to get to the root of the problem and find out if you have a constricted airway (snoring, breathing difficulty, asthma, sleep apnea, etc.) or a pain induced narcolepsy.12. Have you been diagnosed with depression?It does not take a long time for chronic pain patients to develop psychological or even psychiatric problems. Learning to deal with the pain may be more than the human body can tolerate. Remember: the trigeminal nerve accounts for over 50% of your brain’s processing. The jaw joint houses over 25% of all of your body’s nerve impulses and over 40% of the nervous impulses of your head. The trigeminal nerve is fully responsible for the regulation of blood flow of your brain’s own blood vessels. Compress this nerve alone and you have some serious repercussions. Include a few more of the nerves associated with the jaws and you can have some debilitating effects. It’s not in your head! It is in your jaws! Again, many people have no joint noises or pain within the TMJ. Why are there so many unexplainable symptoms, ranging from depression to chronic pain if nobody can find anything wrong? The answer is quite simple: the skull bone has only 1/16th of an inch of protective bone covering the jaw joint. Yes, there is very little bone keeping the condyle (head of the lower jaw) from entering the brain tissue. As the joint becomes dysfunctional (with or without pain), the brain starts to sense the frequent pounding/beating in this area, since there inadequate bone protection. As the joint loses most of its protective barrier and the brain becomes exposed to the constant beating of the lower jaw… Pain worsens! Unfortunately, nobody can get to the root of the problem because the symptoms and signs of the dysfunction are not readily apparent and observable. |
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