Occlusion As An Eliological Agent In Head, Neck and Facial Pain

ABSTRACT:

A great deal of controversy still surrounds the diagnosis and treatment of head, neck and facial pain. Despite years of ongoing research, medical and dental professionals still cannot agree on the proper treatment for patients in pain. (1,2,3,4) In this article the author describes the problem as having four components. First, medical professionals cannot agree on a precise definition of the terms they use. (5) Second, the initial diagnosis is made first by the patient, i.e.: earache, who then initiates the referral sequence. Third, many of the criteria for diagnosis of head, neck and facial pain are symptomatic and subjective rather than objective, leading to interpretive errors. Fourth, since there are so many different potential causes of head, neck and facial pain, and specialists focusing on those maladies, the potential for errors in diagnosis is extremely high. The purpose of this article is to clearly define head, neck and facial pain symptoms that can be proven to be caused by occlusal imbalances and introduce an objective method by which those patients can be identified, diagnosed and successfully treated.

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