Cosmetic Dentistry Blog

What is TENS?

Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation (TENS) is a term given to battery operated instruments that provide a gentle painless electrical stimulus through the skin to nerve pathways. At Dream Smile Dental, we use ultra-low frequency TENS to deliver a stimulus through the nerve pathways of the head and neck. These gently exercise the muscles controlled by those nerves, and causes the muscles of the head and neck to relax.

How are muscles related to dentistry?

Head, neck and jaw muscles play a very important role in your dental health. Different muscles come into play for posturing, opening, and closing the jaw and swallowing. The muscles that keep your jaw from falling open are small and go from the jaw upward through the cheeks, into the forehead and around the ear. If your teeth don’t fit together properly, these muscles are over-worked. Subconsciously holding these muscles tense for a long time can result in muscles spasms, and tension. Tense muscles restrict blood flow and oxygen to those muscles, and also prevent the washing away of waste products like lactic acid. This eventually leads to headaches or other head and neck pain.

Can’t I just relax these muscles?

No. If your teeth don’t fit together correctly, you subconsciously hold your jaw in a position that often causes muscled tension. It is very difficult to change this on your own and often requires a lot of training. Ultra low frequency TENS relax the muscles of the head and neck.

How does it work?

Electrodes are placed on your skin over the nerves controlling the muscles of the head and neck. The TENS unit is attached to these electrodes. It delivers mild stimulus to those nerves every 1.5 seconds. This causes the muscles to react, and it causes the rhythmic exercising of the muscle. As time passes, these muscles begin to relax and blood flow through them is increased. Because it is repetitive it causes the rhythmic exercising of the muscle. As time passes, these muscles begin to relax and blood flow increases clearing away lactic acid build up and producing healthier more relaxed muscles, resulting in comfort and relief. In most cases, the muscles become relaxed after 45-60 minutes.

When does Dream Smile prescribe TENS?

If we are treating you for a dental issue where we want to relax the head and neck muscles in order to find your best bite, TENS is applied in the office. However, there are occasions when we will prescribe a small TENS unit for home use called the BNS-40. This is a much smaller version of the office  unit which applies the same stimulus to the muscles.

We may prescribe the home unit for the following:

•   To relax your muscles before you come to the office for dental treatment or analysis.
•   To relieve muscle tension pain.
•   To determine whether relaxation of your facial and neck muscles will lead to pain relief.

There are three different factors which determine your bite: teeth, muscles and joints. Neuromuscular dentistry uses modern technology to assess the function -or dysfunction- of the jaw by evaluating all of these and creating the optimum bite for your jaw structure while creating your new beautiful smile.

If you suffer from headaches, ear congestion, dizziness, difficulty swallowing, neck pain, jaw clenching or teeth grinding, jaw joint pain, and even nervousness or insomnia this treatment can pinpoint the source. In evaluating your teeth, and the muscles and joints of your jaw, you can alleviate TMJ disorders and in the process, get the smile you have always dreamed of.

There are various types of muscles located in the face and neck that hold your jaw, control the movement of your jaw, and allow you to chew and swallow; all of which is done subconsciously. If your bite is off, your body automatically strains the muscles of your jaw, working the muscles extra hard. This is why the temporomandibular joints become over stressed and TMJ occurs. The goal of Dream Smile Dental is to find and restore your jaw to its natural, optimal position. TMJ disorders are eliminated by restoring your jaw to that position where the muscles, teeth and joints are in balance.   This takes the pressure off of your joints and overstrained muscles, eliminates jaw or teeth clenching, and allows for your muscles to act naturally, and with no effort, make your jaw function properly.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, pain costs American businesses $100 billion annually in lost workdays, medical expenses and other benefits.  It’s no easier on the thousands of workers who remain home from their jobs every day due to debilitating neck and head pain resulting from migraine or tension headaches.  Many of these people are not just staying home and taking aspirin; but are in the fetal position in their closet. According to the National Headache Foundation, over 45 million Americans suffer from headache pain severe enough to seek help from a physician and approximately 28 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches causing an estimated loss of 157 million workdays.

Here’s a thought to chew on: the pain keeping you from work may be caused by your bite.  The basic problem is that the muscles of the face, head and neck have to close the jaws so that the teeth all touch together.  

“If teeth are missing, in the wrong place, or have had a lot of dental work over the years, they may force the jaws and muscles into a position that strains the system” explains Dr. Konstantin Ronkin of Canton, MA.  

Unfortunately this means that most adults are at risk for this now or in the future.  This dysfunction is generally the cause of the pain.  (Just like flexing your arm for a second is comfortable, but flexing it for 2-3 minutes starts to hurt; having to hold the teeth together in a poor position will cause pain in the muscles.)

“If you experience headaches, facial pain, neck, shoulder and back pain, jaw pain, sore or worn teeth, chipped or broken teeth, clicking or popping in the jaw or limited jaw movement, it could be due to TMD, a treatable condition” states trained neuromuscular dentist Dr. Evetta Shwartzman of Canton, MA.  

In addition to pain, TMD can cause grinding of the teeth and breathing problems and sleep disorders.  Traditional training in dentistry and dental schools does not include the science to be able to understand, evaluate and balance the muscles; so not every dentist understands the key role they play in helping treat so many people suffering with pain; advanced neuromuscular training is critical in being able to resolve the chronic pain.