Are you experiencing head pain?
Any neck, TMJ or shoulder pain as a bonus?
Either way, you may want to find out if we can help your headache. In fact, we like to do this without drugs, so if that’s a depressing thought, maybe you need to hit your browser “back” button and find help elsewhere.
First, if you snore, or live with a snorer, you may need to check out our page on snoring and sleep apnea, because this can cause headaches, but is also life-threatening, so it would be important to rule that out prior to moving to this next section.
If you’re still here, let’s ask a few questions to find out the likelihood of your headache being helped with the NTI device.
Is your pain worse in the morning than other times during the day?
Yes
No
Do you think you clench your teeth at night?
Yes
No
Maybe
How would I know?
When your head hurts, where does it seem to be the worst?
Temple
Around my eyes
Back of my head
Other
I also have migraines
Yes
No
I have TMJ (joint) tenderness at times
Yes
No
On a scale of 1-10, with “10” being the worst pain imaginable above the shoulders, what’s the average “number” you usually wake with?
Have ever thought “I must have a sinus headache” upon waking?
Yes
No
Over ½ million people have been helped with the NTI device, so why not you?
To help you out, if you mention you read the word “gitterdone” here, we will give you all of your money back if the NTI device does not dramatically improve, or even eliminate your head pain. That is an offer we do not give all of our patients, but we like our internet surfers.
And that’s not all! For our new patients, we also offer free custom whitening trays as long as you mention this offer. You would need a complete examination with necessary x-rays for that, but since we accept most insurance plans, that is usually covered anyway.
NTI Tension Suppression System
The FDA has cleared for marketing for the first time, a device that prevents medically diagnosed migraine pain, tension-type headache, and jaw disorders ("TMJ"), without drugs or surgery, through the reduction of trigeminally innervated muscular activity.
Migraine Prevention -- Headache Prevention
The N.T.I. Tension Suppression System is a prefabricated polycarbonate matrix that a dental practitioner retro-fits to the patient's teeth . It is completely different from any other type of mouthpiece. Here's the rationale.
Chronic symptoms of the head and neck can often be attributed to:
Headache -- the temporalis muscle
(it closes and clenches the jaw)
Sinus pressure and pain - the lateral pterygoid muscles (it moves the jaw side to side and/or forward)
Neck stiffness and pain - trapezius muscle (it stabilizes the skull during jaw clenching and grinding)
Contraction of the lateral pterygoid (B, above) simply moves the jaw sideways (or if both contract, front wards). If the temporalis (A, above) contracts simultaneously (clenching), the intensity of the temporalis contraction dictates the degree of resistance the lateral pterygoids encounter when they attempt to move the jaw sideways (grinding). As temporalis contraction intensity increases, the lateral pterygoids must work harder, creating symptoms where the lateral pterygoid muscle is attached: at the jaw joint and sinuses. This conflicting and/or isometric contracting of the musculature (called "parafunction", which occurs during sleep with considerable intensities) obligates the trapezius (across your upper back and shoulders and attaches at the base of the skull, C, above) to maintain a tightened posture, thereby causing stiff and sore shoulders and/or neck.
(above) When there is temporalis contraction (clenching) exclusively (no lateral pterygoid activity, that is, not sideways of forward movement), the jaw joint and sinuses are less strained, while resultant temporalis pain may be considerable. Tension-type headache patients without jaw disorders clench their jaws 14 times more intensely while sleeping than do asymptomatic controls You can feel your temporalis muscles bulging out when clenching vigorously.
"Traditional" full coverage dental mouthpieces.
Top: Soft and covers over the entire arch Bottom: Hard and covers only the biting surfaces
A traditional dental mouthpiece, or splint, reduces the resistance to side-to-side movement thereby reducing the effort and resultant strain to the jaw joint and sinuses (so long as clenching intensity isn't too intense). However, the same splint also provides an ideal clenching surface, where maximum clenching intensity may increase and/or allow jaw joint problems to perpetuate.
The NTI device is a pre-fabricated matrix that your dentist retro-fits and customizes to your front teeth (sometimes the device is adapted to the lower front teeth...it will still work the same).
If only the front teeth are engaged (like biting on a pencil, for example), the temporalis is prevented from achieving its maximum contraction intensity!
The NTI device snaps into place and fits comfortably on either the upper or lower front teeth. It is worn during sleep and prevents the intensity of muscular parafunction. For migraine sufferers, there is a more discreet version for daytime use, which is usually required (in addition to the pictured nighttime device) for 6 to 8 weeks for best results.
Chronic, intense nighttime muscular parafunction has been shown to be a considerable influence on the triggering of migraine events. In clinical trials, 82% of medically diagnosed migraine patients had a 77% reduction in migraine episodes within the first eight weeks of use.
How an NTI-tss works
This is a simple demonstration of the efficacy of the NTI-tss device.
A
B
Begin by gently biting on the moon portion of your fingernail, using your central incisors. Only be forceful enough to create slight discomfort.
Now attempt to use the same amount of force, but this time bite with a canine tooth on the same spot of your fingernail as you did with the central incisors.
What happens? Biting with the canine tooth is suddenly more painful than with the incisors... Why?
The incisor teeth are intended to not only incise food, but to be "hardness monitors" of what you're biting into. They are under your control and tell you if something will be to hard to chew.
The canine teeth are designed for grasping and pressing into what it is that you're trying to hold on to (carnivores specifically use the canine teeth for this purpose). The intensity of muscular activity created once the canine teeth have been engaged is under less voluntary control. In fact, the message to the brain is: "We've opened our mouth to grab something and have caught it...hold on!" The contacting of canine teeth encourages jaw clenching!
Dentistry's attempt at dealing with parafunctional jaw muscle activity (the most destructive of which is jaw clenching) has been to provide alterations of the biting surfaces of the teeth.
1
2
3
A full coverage splint, usually a thickness which mimics the intended space between the teeth when the jaw musculature is supposed to be at rest, provides both canine and posterior teeth contact, thereby allowing for perpetuation of parafunctional (nighttime clenching) muscular activity.
By increasing the thickness of the splint, clenching intensity may be altered, depending on the amount of pressure applied to particular teeth. If contacts are "heavier" in the molar region, clenching intensity can be suppressed slightly. If contacting is prevalent in the canine region, clenching is reflexive and perpetuates.
An anterior bite plane reduces parafunctional intensity of the masseters (the muscles on the sides of your jaw, primarily involved in chewing, not clenching), and to a degree, the lateral pterygoids (the tiny muscles at your jaw joints that open your jaw), but still provides canine contact for temporalis clenching.
A
B
The NTI-tss device (above) reduces clenching intensity by exploiting the mechanisms of the incisor teeth and by preventing the engagement of the canine and molar teeth when the jaw is centered (A), and when it is in excursive positions (B).
