Is Your Bite Homeless?

“My bite doesn't have a home!”

This is a very common complaint from many of our patients. If your bite does not have a "home," you may be suffering from chronic headaches, migraines, clicking and popping when you chew, and even pain in your jaw. A homeless bite may be the cause of some wrinkles and may even speed up the aging process.

What does it mean when we say a "homeless" bite? Similar to a budget and a diet, your bite needs to be balanced. You may hear dental professionals refer to a patient's bite as occlusion. Unbalanced occlusion can be caused by head trauma, crooked teeth, premature loss of primary teeth because of decay, or grinding your teeth.

Think about an unbalanced occlusion like having a pebble in your right shoe. You would most likely try to avoid walking on your right side, putting more force and stress on your left side. This may cause problems such as muscle or back pain, sciatica, and joint pain.

This is the same thing that happens in your mouth when your bite doesn't have a home. Think of the damage that may happen if you favor one side of your mouth to chew-- you can damage the hinge or joint that the jaw sits on, which causes certain muscles of your face to work harder than others and wears some teeth faster than others. Since your teeth give your face proper structure, when they wear down, faces look sunken in.

An unbalanced bite may be the cause of headaches or migraines.  The nerve that gives your teeth feeling is also the nerve that is in the headache center of the brain.  If your occlusion is off, this may trigger a response in the brain, resulting in a headache.

There are steps we can take to give a bite its proper home. Adjustments, therapy, orthotics, and repairing old dental work are all steps that we can take to keep your bite at home.