"For years, I experienced pain throughout my neck, ears, back, and shoulders. Dr. Barbat recommended an orthotic appliance to realign and opening my bite. When I received it, I saw an immediate difference. Within 3 months, all the pain that I’d experienced for years was gone. Added bonus: I sleep better and my face relaxed throughout the day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!"
"I have suffered from migraines for many years. At one time, I thought it was something I was going to have to get use to and live with. Even my Doctors had given up on me. However, since being treated for this about a year ago, I am happy to say that I no longer have to endure the awful migraines. Thank you for giving me my life back!"
Ensuring Your Smile Has All the Right Moves!
Neuromuscular Dentistry
Neuromuscular Dentistry and TMD, as you'll read, have many similarities. Dr. Barbat sought special training in neuromuscular dentistry to help patients enjoy a healthy bite relationship while protecting their natural teeth as well as dental work.
In a properly-aligned bite, the teeth, jaw joints, and muscles work together without strain or tension. The biting surfaces of upper and lower teeth fit together neatly while the jaw joints work in unison. When you chew or swallow, the muscles on both sides of the face contract evenly to bring the teeth together and relax during other times.
When there's a problem with the bite, upper and lower teeth do not meet correctly. A problem bite often occurs when teeth are missing, misaligned or worn. In this situation, the muscles must use extra force, and the jaw joints often shift position in order to bring the teeth together. And when you are not chewing, your jaw muscles may not fully relax, even though they feel normal to you.
Over time, this can cause the muscles and joints to become sore, tired, and stiff. A bad bite, together with tense, strained muscles, can lead to a variety of problems. This includes headaches, muscle pain, damage to the teeth or jaw joints, clicking and popping, and other symptoms. It can also shorten the life of crowns, veneers, and other dental restorations through damage or excessive wear.
In planning your treatment, Dr. Barbat uses advanced skills to identify problems in the muscles, jaw joints and bite. If problems exist, she’ll recommend treatment to stabilize your bite. These may include wearing a custom bite splint (orthotic) or placing crowns and veneers on the affected teeth.
With modern techniques and technologies of neuromuscular dentistry, Dr. Barbat can help you achieve a healthier bite, more comfortable muscles and jaw joints and beautiful smile.
TMJ Disorder (or TMD)
There are many causes of TMD, such as grinding and clenching of teeth, an injury, and emotional stress. But a very common cause is a bad bite.
A problem bite often exists when teeth are missing, misaligned, or worn down. These conditions can prevent the upper teeth from meshing correctly with the lower teeth. This forces the jaw to shift position and the muscles to work harder than they should to bring the teeth together. And when you are not chewing, your jaw muscles may not fully relax, even though they feel normal to you.
You bring your teeth together to swallow thousands of times a day. If your bite is out of alignment, the muscles and joints become sore, tired, and stiff. Over time, this constant muscle tension leads to muscle fatigue, spasm, and pain. The constant strain on the muscles can also pull the disc that cushions the jaw joint out of position. If this happens, the bones of the jaw joint can rub against each other and the nerves, causing pain and damaging the joint.
Diagnosis and treatment
TMD, sometimes called TMJ, is a cycle of pain, muscle spasms, and jaw joint problems that results when the teeth, chewing muscles, and jaw joints don’t work together in harmony. The letters “TMD” stand for temporo-mandibular dysfunction. This refers to problems with the muscles and joints that join the mandible bone of the jaw to the temporal bone at the base of the skull.
Symptoms may include headaches, worn teeth, painful muscles in the face, neck, and shoulders, clicking and popping of the jaw joint, earaches, pain behind the eyes, difficulty opening and closing the mouth, ringing in the ears, tingling hands, and other problems.
Millions suffer from TMD, but with treatment, Dr. Barbat can relieve or manage pain and restore harmony to your teeth, muscles and jaw joints. The first step is to analyze your bite using advanced equipment to identify problems. Then you wear a custom-crafted bite splint, called an orthotic, for a period of time to relax the muscles, restore balance to the jaw joints and stabilize the bite.
Once your bite is stabilized, Dr. Barbat can permanently correct it. Depending on your situation, she may have you wear a long-term orthotic or even replace missing teeth, move teeth or place crowns and veneers.
For diagnosis, we use advanced technology to measure the function of your jaw muscles and the movement of each jaw joint. Depending on the situation, this technology may include tomography, sonography or joint vibration analysis, electromyography, jaw tracking, and a TENS unit.
Tomographs - Tomographs are specialized x-rays that give a detailed view of the jaw joint, allowing us to check the health and position of the bones of each jaw joint.
Sonography or joint vibration analysis - The sonograph or joint vibration analysis equipment measures the sounds in your jaw joint as you open and close your mouth. These measurements help identify joint damage or other problems.
Electromyography - This measures tension in chewing muscles. When muscles are tense or strained, they give off tiny electrical currents.
Jaw tracking - To track jaw movements, a tiny magnet is placed just below the lower front teeth. A sensor records the movement of the magnet when you move your jaw open and closed, side to side and forward and backward.
After the diagnostic workup, a treatment plan will be created to enable your bite to stay in this comfortable, stable position.
Once it is determined that a bad bite is causing your TMD or other problems with your teeth or jaw joints, a number of procedures can be used to stabilize your bite and allow chewing muscles to stay in their comfortable, relaxed position.
