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This article is reprinted from a post originally published on Sphenopalatineganglionblocks.com

Neuromuscular Dentistry… Read Full Post

Treatment of TMJ Disorders, Headaches, Migraines and Sleep Disorder are focus in new practice serving Lake Forest and Highland Park TMJ patients.

  Dr  Shapira  created www.IHateHeadaches.org website to bring the Physiologic Approach to treating TMJ Disorders with Neuromuscular Dentistry to a wider audience and has over 10,000 unique visitors on a monthly basis.

Diagnosis and Treatment of TMJ disorders requires a wide variety of skills that most general dentists don’t acquire. The treatment of TMJ disorders is far more advanced than just the mechanical approach of mouth guard and bite adjustments. In fact, many patients get worse because invasive treatment… Read Full Post

Who Treats TMJ Disorders (TMD)The treatment of TMJ disorders is best accomplished by dentists who have special training in this field.

The American Alliance of TMD Organizations has established fundamental principles for TMD practice.

The Alliance and the websites of it's member organizations is an excellent place to find a dentist who treats TMJ disorders. I have the great honor of being the current Chair of the TMD Alliance. http://www.tmdalliance.com/index.html

Founded in 1995 on behalf of patients’ well-being, the Alliance of TMD… Read Full Post

This was originally published at WWW.ThinkBetterLife.com which is the website for my Highland Park, Illinois website serving the North Shore suburbs, Chicago, Lake County and Cook County.
There are several patient testimonials about SPG Blocks and neuromuscular dentistry being utilized for treatment of all types of headaches and migraines.

I have added a section at the end of some of the problems associated with medications utilized for treating these conditions.

Are Spenopalatine Ganglion Blocks Superior to standard drug regimens?
I believe you must look at both safety and effectiveness and possible side effects to evaluate any and all treatments.… Read Full Post

A recent article (pubmed abstract below) on chronic neck pain should be of great interest to anyone suffering from chronic neck pain, cervicogenic headaches and / or TMJ (TMD).  It is well understood that there are postural implications to both of these disorders and that much of the pain is actually muscular in origin.  So what is the place of prolotherapy or proliferation therapy in treating cervical or TMJoint pain.

See my Highland Park website http://www.thinkbetterlife.com for more information on these topics.

The answer is in stability.  There are numerous functions of the muscles besides moving our body parts.  Muscle Splinting occurs when the… Read Full Post

It is well known that the majority of patients complaining of TMJ Disorders are women even though the anatomy of men and women tend to be very similar.  It is also know that there are estrogen receptors in the TemporoMandibular Joints (TMJ)

A recent article in Pain  discussed the fact that in general most non-cancer pain is more frequent in women as well.  I have frequently found that in premenopausal women it is easy to get near total relief of Chronic Daily Headaches and Status Migraine for up to 25-28 days a month but that it is much harder to completely eliminate pain during ovulation and around menses.

While total pain relief is not… Read Full Post

Frank: What are the costs of treatment and is it covered by insurance? I have severely ground teeth. I clench a lot but mostly during day. 61 yrs old I do TMJ massage and that slightly helps. The headaches occur 4-10 times month. Headaches are inside my ears, above ears, in mouth and jaw and seem to sometimes be in the teeth and roof of mouth. I had whiplash injury. When I have atlas aligned it helps but does not stay in alignment.

Dr Shapira response: Insurance sometimes covers part of the cost but most insurance companies are worried primarily about shareholders and profits. Several years ago Chicago HMO agreed to pay 100% of the costs even though it was specifically excluded… Read Full Post

Patrick :    What are the surgical options for treating my severe cluster headaches?

Dr Shapira response: Dear Patrick,

 am not a big advocate of surgery for cluster headaches.  Treatment of the Trigeminal Nerve  " microvascular decompression of the trigeminal nerve with section of the nervus intermedius compares very favorably to other destructive techniques without the accompanying neurologic deficits" (see below) is probably the best surgical treatment but do not expect success.  There is a significant risk of very negative outcomes.  As there is unquestionably a Trigeminal Nerve  basis in cluster headaches I would… Read Full Post

Headaches and Migraines are almost 100% caused by the Trigeminal Nervous System.  This is accepted by all specialties of medicine who deal with headache patients.

The Spenopalatine Ganglion Block, Pterygopalatine Ganglion Block or SPG Block is known to be one of the safest and most effective means of preventing and treating migraines and tension headaches.

The Spenopalatine Ganglion is the largest parasympathetic ganglia in the head.  The other ganglia are the Ciliary Ganglion, the Submandibular Ganglion and the Otic Ganglion.

The Sphenopalatine Ganglion was made famous by the best selling book, "Miracles on Park Avenue" where it was explained how SPG… Read Full Post

The Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block has been used for while over a century.  So, why does it seem like nobody has ever heard of it until recently and why is it changing now.

According to an article in the Pain Practitioner in 2004, "Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blockade: A Review and Proposed Modification of the Transnasal Technique Report of Technique" by  Robert E. Windsor, MD, and Scott Jahnke, DO  the accepted uses of "the SPG block are sphenopalatine neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, atypical facial pain, acute migraine, acute and chronic cluster headaches, herpes zoster involving the ophthalmic nerve and a variety of other facial neuralgias. The mechanism by which… Read Full Post