Dr. Quigless St. Louis Cosmetic Dentistry Blog

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Many people have TMD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) without realizing it, and if you suffer from chronic neck and/or shoulder pain, you could be one of them. It is not a well-known condition, nor is neuromuscular dentistry well-known. Dr. Quigless is a qualified neuromuscular dentist and can determine whether your neck pain is a symptom of TMD or not.

TMD is a misaligned bite. You may wonder why your bite would be causing neck or shoulder pain and not just jaw pain. In fact, TMD causes a great many symptoms which at first glance do not seem to have much relationship. How could headaches be related to chips in a tooth or tingling fingers?

Large Nerves With Many Branches
The common factor of the pain of TMD symptoms is the large, many-branched nerves that run from the brain to the face, head, jaw, neck, and shoulders. If your bite is misaligned, the jaw joints are part of the problem, as are misaligned teeth. Even the atlas (top bone in the spine) may be part of the problem and be out of alignment with the spinal bones.

The jaw muscles try to close your mouth correctly with the teeth meeting smoothly, but they cannot. The mechanics of your bite are incorrect and the muscles build up a lot of tension. The tension creates inflammation. The inflammation puts pressure on the nerves nearby and you feel pain.

Because these nerves have many branches, when one branch sends a pain message to the brain, another branch of the same nerve may also send one. Then you would feel pain in two places when the cause is only in one place. So you may feel neck or shoulder pain when the problem is in the jaw joint or a jaw muscle.

Dr. Quigless can diagnose your TMD using his extensive knowledge and specialized technology. If you would like to come for a free neuromuscular consultation with him, please contact us today. Our office serves St. Louis Missouri.

The Missouri Dental Board and the ADA do not recognize the treatment of TMJ(neuromuscular dentistry) or cosmetic dentistry as a specialty. Further, the ADA does not require any additional training of dentists who perform or advertise these procedures.

TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder – also called TMD) is an under-diagnosed condition worldwide. Most people who have it are completely unaware of what is causing their daily discomfort. TMJ has many symptoms that you cannot fail to notice, such as severe headaches, facial and neck pain, shoulder tension, poor posture, earaches, teeth grinding, and many others.

You would probably not have all the symptoms but you would have some of them in your own unique combination. Each case of TMJ is individual. If Dr. Quigless finds that you do indeed have TMJ, he will devise an individual treatment plan for you to reduce or eliminate pain permanently.

How is TMJ Diagnosed?
TMJ can only be accurately diagnosed by a neuromuscular dentist. It requires knowledge not taught in dental undergraduate schools and technology not owned by a typical general dentist. Dr. Quigless uses technology called the K7 Evaluation System.

The K7 System gathers comprehensive data about your jaw joints and how they move. It is a comfortable procedure and you will have a patient version of its findings, with graphs and understandable explanations as to your jaw joint sounds, jaw muscle movements, and jaw muscle electrical activity.

Dr. Quigless also uses a TENS unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation). It has a number of electrodes the he will place on your head, neck and jaw areas to administer mild electrical stimulation to the muscles. After a half hour or so, the TENS unit will relax your jaw muscles, perhaps for the first time in years.

Immediate Pain Relief
With the jaw muscles relaxed, your jaw is in its correct position, whether or not the teeth are meeting comfortably. They may be misaligned and need some correction. The goal of your TMJ treatment will be to make your relaxed, correct jaw position permanent. That will permanently relieve you of TMJ pain, including headaches that you may have been suffering from for years.

If you would like to schedule a free neuromuscular dentistry consultation with Dr. Quigless, please call or email our office today. We serve the St. Louis, Missouri area and we look forward to meeting with you.

The Missouri Dental Board and the ADA do not recognize the treatment of TMJ(neuromuscular dentistry) or cosmetic dentistry as a specialty. Further, the ADA does not require any additional training of dentists who perform or advertise these procedures.

As a neuromuscular dentist, Dr. Quigless has extensive extra training beyond what is offered by dental schools for general dentistry. He has trained at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI) and you can read more about his background and affiliations at Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Quigless.

As the name implies, neuromuscular dentistry looks at the nerves and muscles connected with teeth – that is, the jaw muscles and their related nerves. Where a general dentist looks at teeth and gums, a neuromuscular dentist looks at teeth, gums, jaw joints, jaw muscles, and the nerves and blood vessels associated with your bite.

A Well-Aligned Bite
Your occlusion - bite - is a three-point piece of mechanics (chin and two joints) that needs all its parts properly aligned for you to be pain-free. Each jaw joint should be moving smoothly with its cartilage pad in between the upper and lower bones. The jaw should open wide with no popping or other sounds and no discomfort.

When the teeth come together, there should be no bumping or wear and tear. Jaw muscles should be relaxed when the jaw is closed, just as the leg muscles are relaxed when you are seated.

When the Bite is Poorly Aligned
If one or both jaw joints are misaligned, they throw the bite out of alignment. Alternatively, if too many of the teeth are misaligned, they can gradually push the jaw joints out of alignment. The occlusion parts are not working together correctly and you will have uncomfortable or painful symptoms.

This is the condition called Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD or TMJ). Neck pain is one of the many TMD symptoms, as are teeth grinding and headaches. If you have chronic headaches for which no doctor has definitively found a cause, it would be worth your while to visit Dr. Quigless for a TMD diagnosis. If he finds that you do not have TMD, you have at least ruled it out and can go on to other possibilities.

If Dr. Quigless finds that you do have TMD, he can plan a customized treatment for you. TMD is a dental condition and for pain relief, you need the care of a neuromuscular dentist.

To learn more about TMD and whether you have any of its symptoms, please contact our St. Louis, Missouri office for a free neuromuscular consultation.

The Missouri Dental Board and the ADA do not recognize the treatment of TMJ(neuromuscular dentistry) or cosmetic dentistry as a specialty. Further, the ADA does not require any additional training of dentists who perform or advertise these procedures.

The primary concern of neuromuscular dentists is the diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular disorder also known as TMD. One of the primary symptoms of TMD is called tinnitus, which is a ringing in the ear that has no physical cause. This ringing is often a result of the effects of TMD on the trigeminal nerve, the major nerve of the face. St. Louis tinnitus relief specialist Dr. Quigless is a qualified neuromuscular dentist who treats tinnitus from TMD.

Tinnitus Pervasiveness
Although most people experience this phenomenon at some time or another, approximately 10 to 15 percent of the population experience tinnitus that causes them to seek medial attention. In too many cases, medical doctors and others dismiss tinnitus as being all in your head.

Tinnitus and TMD
A neuromuscular dentist however, understands that tinnitus from TMD is treatable by treating the underlying causes of TMD. There can be many factors that cause TMD, some of them include:

• Grinding your teeth
• Misaligned jaw
• Missing teeth
• Physical trauma

Once TMD is diagnosed, there are many possible treatment paths that may be followed.

• Dental appliances
• TENs therapy
• Orthodontia
• Realignment of the jaw
• Surgery

Neuromuscular Dentistry
Fortunately, a neuromuscular dentist is specially trained to treat TMD using all of these options so you will not have to be referred to another specialist. If you suffer from tinnitus from TMD, please contact St. Louis tinnitus relief specialist Dr. Quigless today. Using the latest neuromuscular diagnosing techniques, he will be able to diagnose and treat this maddening condition.

The default position of most dentists for treating certain tooth problems is to remove the tooth and replace it with a cap or crown. The difference between caps and veneers is that porcelain veneers are proven to be more versatile then their ancestors, the metal caps and crowns.

Metal Caps and Fillings
For many years, metal caps and fillings served the purposes of most people needing dental care to correct tooth decay and tooth loss. Gold and other metal crowns and fillings on the back teeth are not as prominent as on the front teeth, but still can detract from a winning smile.

Many patients with existing metal fillings are interested in improving their smiles by overlaying them with porcelain veneers.

Porcelain Veneers
Veneers are thin appliances that are bonded to your teeth to improve a number of minor dental issues, including:

• Tooth whitening
• Straightening slightly crooked teeth
• Filling in gaps
• Splinting cracked or broken teeth

There are numerous advantages to using porcelain veneers to improve your smile and over all dental health, to find out more about the difference between caps and veneers, please contact St. Louis dental veneers expert Dr. Quigless. He will put together a comprehensive plan to remake your smile, starting with a free initial consultation.

Dental implants have been used since the 1970s and have been approved by the FDA since 1999 for permanent tooth replacement. These handy devices are basically titanium screws that are used to anchor one or more teeth prostheses directly into the bone.

Root Form Dental Implants
Traditionally, these screws were relatively large, approximately 3.65 mm in diameter and required a substantial amount of bone to which they are affixed. For people with an inadequate amount of bone material, a bone graft would be indicated prior to undergoing the implant procedure. This is a costly and painful process that delays final implant placement for up to six months in some cases. Recently, mini dental implants have hit the market.

Benefits of Mini Dental Implants
Still considered root form implants, these implants have smaller diameters, which offer many benefits over traditional implants.

• Less bone mass is required
• Implants can be placed immediately
• No bone grafts are necessary
• More people are good candidates for the procedure
• You can start eating right away
• No care other than normal brushing and flossing is required

If you are tired of the difficulties associated with wearing dentures and want a more permanent solution, please contact St. Louis implant dentist, Dr. Quigless to schedule an initial consultation.