Something that many people are not aware of this that oral health and well-being can actually be connected to headaches. It is actually very common for tension headaches to be caused by dental problems. Here are some common dental problems that may be the culprit.
Cavities and Infections
A simple cavity may be the cause of your tension headache. Because nerves are all connected, any cavity or infection at the cavity site can cause pain to travel along the nerve and be “deferred” at a different location. It is common, then, for pain to be felt as a tension headache, whereas the culprit is actually a tooth.
Misalignment
Another common cause of dental related tension headaches is a jaw or teeth misalignment. This misalignment can often cause strain and other stresses on the muscles, which results in the headache. A dentist can help with this by providing orthodontic work to fix the misalignment.
Temporomandibular Joint Disorder
TMJ for short, this is a major cause of tension headaches. The joint in question with this disorder is the jaw’s connection to your skull, and it affects not only the joint but all the surrounding tissue and nerves. TMJ has many causes, including stress, bruxism, jaw misalignment, poor orthodontic work, and excessive jaw overuse. As you can see, some of these are also previously mentioned issues, so TMJ and resulting headaches can be fairly compex. While TMJ can sometimes go away on its own, it often does require intervention and the help of a TMJ specialist.
If you are suffering from tension headaches, it might be a dental problem which is causing it. A visit to your dentist, ro the help of a headache specialist in Vancouver may be exactly what you need to start treating those tension headaches.
