• Headaches or migraines
• Facial, neck, shoulder or back pain
• Pain, popping or clicking sounds in the jaw joint
• Limited mouth opening
• Worn, chipped or cracked teeth
• Ear congestion
• Ringing in the ears
• Clenching or grinding
• Tingling or numbness of the fingertips & arms
• Hot & cold sensitivity of teeth

Have you ever thought it could be related to your bite?
With state-of-the-art technology and the unique and sophisticated techniques of Neuromuscular Dentistry, Dr. Cook can rehabilitate the muscles that are causing headaches, neck and shoulder aches, TMJ and facial pain, restoring your bite to its optimal position, giving you back a confident smile and healthy teeth for life. Dr. Cook uses drug-free and non-invasive corrective treatments to eliminate the pain and other TMJ symptoms.

What causes TMJ disorder?
TMJ refers to the temporomandibular joints on either side of the jaw. Chronic pain in the face, jaw, head or neck is referred to as TMJ/TMD or Temporomandibular joint disorder. The most common cause of TMJ is a bad bite or “malocclusion”. When the teeth do not fit together properly, the alignment of the jaw changes and the muscles are forced into a strained position causing pain. With a bad jaw alignment, the position and alignment of the head is also affected causing misalignment and pain in the face, neck, arms, shoulders and back. With orthodontic treatment you may correct crowded teeth, but the muscles still may be uncomfortable and the patient may still have jaw pain, headaches, neck aches, shoulder aches and back pain.

How can Neuromuscular Dentistry help you?
Neuromuscular dentistry serves to correct the bite and realign the jaw, placing the jaw into its optimal position. With a complete dental, head and neck examination, and a neuromuscular TMJ screening exam, we are able to diagnose and rule out if your bite is the cause of your condition or pain. Dr. Cook trained at Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI) the world’s premier learning center for neuromuscular dentistry.

We use a Myomonitor that delivers ultra low-frequency TENS (Trancutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation) to relax the masticatory (face) and cervical (neck) muscles. This stimulation improves blood and oxygen supply to the fatigued and contracted muscles, flushing out the toxins and relaxing the muscles to their optimal length for maximum efficiency.

We then measure the most relaxed position of the jaw and find the ideal position where the teeth, muscles and joints are in harmony. A custom made orthotic appliance, fabricated of plastic, will be used to stabilize your new bite, decompress the TMJ joints and maintain the new jaw position. After the bite is realigned in its optimal position, pain will usually disappear. You wear this appliance for a prescribed period of time to verify that this new jaw position solves or reduces the problem. If it does, you may elect to go on, and have your natural teeth treated to permanently maintain that new bite position.