{"id":886,"date":"2019-02-04T13:24:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=886"},"modified":"2019-02-04T13:24:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:24:00","slug":"lips-together-teeth-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/lips-together-teeth-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"LIPS TOGETHER \u2013 TEETH APART"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/3439490784_46b2cfd9e3_b-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"891\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=891\" class=\"wp-image-891\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/3439490784_46b2cfd9e3_b.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/3439490784_46b2cfd9e3_b-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/3439490784_46b2cfd9e3_b-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many\npeople who suffer with pain involving some area of the head. Toothaches can\ncause pain, but these are mostly avoidable with proper diet, home care and\nregular visits to your dentist. Teeth can also play an indirect role in\nfacial\/head pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orofacial pain\nincludes a number of clinical problems involving the chewing (masticatory)\nmuscles and\/or temporomandibular joints (TMJs). Problems can include TMJ\ndiscomfort involving muscle spasms in the head, neck, shoulders and\/or jaw, migraines\nor other types of tension headaches, pain with the teeth, face or jaw; and can\neven play a role in anxiety and\/or depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You swallow\napproximately 2,000 times per day, which causes the upper and lower teeth to\ncome together and push against the skull. People who have an unstable bite,\nmissing teeth, or poorly aligned teeth can have trouble because the muscles\nwork harder to bring the teeth together, causing strain. People with seemingly\ngood teeth\/bite are also susceptible. Pain can also be caused by clenching or\ngrinding teeth, trauma to the head and neck, or poor ergonomics. Temporomandibular\ndisorders (TMD) affect more than 10 million Americans. Your TMJ\u2019s are located\nwhere the skull connects your lower jaw to the muscles on the sides of your\nhead and face controlling the joint\u2019s movements. Women between the ages of 20\nand 40 are often more frequent sufferers because of the added estrogen in their\nbodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One in eight\nAmericans suffers from headaches. Experts estimate that 80 percent of all\nheadaches are caused by muscle tension, which may be related to the bite.\nClenching the jaw muscles creates tension in the muscles that close the jaw,\nthe main one of which is the temporalis muscle. Signs that may indicate a\nheadache from dental origin include: pain behind the eyes, sore jaw muscles or\n\u201ctired\u201d muscles upon awaking, teeth grinding, clicking or popping of the jaw\njoints, head and\/or scalp is painful to the touch, earaches or ringing, neck and\/or\nshoulder pain, and dizziness. Keep in mind that in a 24-hour period of time,\nyour teeth should only touch 10 minutes total. If you clench or grind your\nteeth, your teeth are touching much more than that and I can promise you that\nsomething in the masticatory system is being affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sleep\ndisorders can also play a role. I am not just talking about sleep apnea. There\nare a wide range of sleep disorders and some of them will cause people to\nclench and\/or grind as a defense mechanism of the body to achieve proper air\nflow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dentists have\na variety of ways to help relieve orofacial symptoms. One way to treat these\nproblems is called an orthotic, or splint, that is worn over the teeth to help\nstabilize the bite; kind of like an orthotic some wear in their shoes for\nalignment and balance when standing. Permanent correction may require\nequilibration (reshaping teeth), prosthetic dentistry and\/ or orthodontics.\nMany use a splint on a daily basis to avoid having these other treatments done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orofacial pain\ncan range from tolerable to debilitating. Maintaining or correcting your bite\nensures optimal health, and proper care will help reduce or eliminate orofacial\npain or discomfort. If your dentist can not help you, ask for a referral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most important\nlesson of the day: The optimal rest position of the jaw (minus the 10 minutes\nthe teeth touch in 24 hours) is lips together, teeth slightly apart, the tip of\nthe tongue resting just behind your upper front teeth, and you should be\nbreathing through your nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at <a href=\"mailto:jpstclair@stclairdmd.com\">jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\">www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many people who suffer with pain involving some area of the head. Toothaches can cause pain, but these are mostly avoidable with proper diet, home care and regular visits to your dentist. Teeth can also play an indirect role in facial\/head pain. Orofacial pain includes a number of clinical problems involving the chewing (masticatory) muscles and\/or temporomandibular joints (TMJs). Problems can include TMJ discomfort involving muscle spasms in the head, neck, shoulders and\/or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}