Cervical dystonia, is a painful condition in which the neck muscles contract involuntarily, causing the head to twist or turn to one side. It can also cause the head to uncontrollably tilt forward or backward. Another name for this condition is “spasmodic torticollis”.

Medical specialists do not know what causes Cervical dystonia. They believe that the uncontrolled movement is due to aberrant signals from the brain. They also believe that there is no known cure for Cervical dystonia. As such, the treatments are an attempt to reduce the symptoms. Botulinum toxin used for cosmetic wrinkle relaxing is injected into the neck muscles to paralyze them. Since this toxin’s effect wears off over time, it is repeated every three or four months. Many times the body produces more receptors to this toxin, resulting in lessening effect for the repeated use of this toxin.

Is it absolutely NOT possible that the spasms and tilting of the head are an attempt by the nervous system to accommodate for a misalignment of the jaws? Does it seem farfetched? Jaw alignment DOES affect the head and neck alignment. When the upper cervical vertebrae are misaligned the nervous system tightens the neck muscles as a protective reflect.

Advanced Neuromuscular dentistry protocols align the mandible (lower jaw), neck and head are aligned in such a way that all the muscles of this area are unstrained. To diagnose such a position, all the muscles controlled by Trigeminal, Facial and Spinal accessory nerves are relaxed with Ultra Low Frequency electrical signals transmitted through these cranial nerves. This is akin to an hour long massage of all these muscles most of them are not accessible from the surface.

Mike has been suffering from Cervical Dystonia for over a decade. He was diagnosed by physicians at Mayo clinic in Minnesota who gave Botulinum toxin injection in his neck muscles. He had limited relief from it. Later it was repeated at Mayo clinic in Arizona. This time the relief was even less. Mike had accepted that nothing can be done.

Mike came to us for relief of jaw pain and headache. At the end of the visit to diagnose the optimal Neuromuscular jaw position that also optimizes neck and head posture a bite record is taken. This is called a ‘myobite’. His cervical dystonia was predictably aggravated when he turned his head to the left. However when the myobite was placed in his mouth and he turned his head to the left, the dystonia was completely absent. But once the myobite was removed and he put his natural teeth together, the spasms returned. It is exciting to be able turn the spasms off when the jaw, neck and head posture is optimized through advanced Neuromuscular dental protocols. Mike is starting orthotic therapy to help his jaw pain and headache. This orthotic is made to the myobite relation to maintain his jaw and neck in this alignment 24/7 as a diagnostic step for 90 days. It will be amazing if his Cervical Dystonia is also relieved. I am very confident that it will. The power of Advanced LVI Neuromuscular dentistry protocols continues to amaze us.

Zach is a high school athlete. His lower jaw – mandible – got dislocated and stuck open while in school. His grandfather got to the school first and took him to urgent care near our office. The physician called our office to ask if we can help this young man or if she should refer him to an Emergency room.
Since it is a lot simpler for a trained TMJ dentist to put the jaw back into place than being sedated at an ER, we saw Zach right away. The video shows his presentation with the jaw stuck in an “open lock” condition.

It is quite painful due to the stretched ligaments, especially the longer the jaw stays dislocated from the socket and stays stuck in the open position. The muscles near the jaw joint also go into painful spasm.

Zach had several open locks in 2 years with them occurring more easily and more frequently. It is relatively quick and painless to the patient for a trained “TMD dentist” to put the jaw back into the socket. The still images with teeth together are within 2 minutes of the video. The grandfather was still giving directions to the dad when the dislocation was reduced – much to the surprise and relief of Zach. He reported that this is the quickest and easiest reduction he had done.

Another case history where the jaw alignment problem that is the underlying cause of these open locks was corrected may be found here. While Natalie’s primary concern was migraines, she often had “open locks” that ended up in ER visits. http://www.midwestheadaches.com/successstories.detail.asp?id=19

Once the jaw alignment was corrected, not only her migraines were gone, the jaw never dislocated either.

Recently AADR- American Association for Dental Research – an organization almost entirely run by academic dentists issued a TMD policy.  It says, in part, “Studies of the natural history of many TMDs suggest that they tend to improve or resolve over time.”

That certainly is not the case with the folks that we treat.  They have been suffering for years and even decades before getting help through Neuromuscular dentistry.

So what is the academics’ solution?  Bite guard or medications such as Neurontin or Gabapentin.

Here is a story of a Registered Nurse who suffered for many years with jaw pain, jaw clicking and headaches.  Now she is pain free with Neuromuscular treatment.  Once the Neuromscular orthotic corrected her bite relation and gave her relief, orthodontics is being used to move the teeth to the proven position.

When she heard what the academics said….she asked “What were they smoking?” and “I know that they could not have suffered from TMD to say that”

Watch her story here:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thbTOuZz6Mg

For information MidwestHeadaches.com