NTI Splints

When you wake up in the morning do you feel fabulous? Many people wake up with a headache nearly every morning and reach for an over-the-counter or, worse, a prescription pain pill to get their day going. This pattern is all too common and accepted as normal by many. Why does a person go through hours of rest that should be recharging their batteries to get them off to a great start for the day, and instead wake up with an aching head or sore muscles? The answer to this question lies in what a person does in their "resting hours" or sleep. Nearly 80% of the population, and some experts say 100%, contract their temporal muscles (which clench the jaws) to varying degrees during some period of their sleep. These clenching activities can exceed a persons conscious intense voluntary clenching efforts and typically prevent the muscles from recovery and rejuvenation. Surprisingly, a person's teeth aren't supposed to be together except for a very brief moment during the chewing cycle. During the day we eat firm foods, chew gum and get into tense situations in which we clench our jaws, thus activating and fatiguing these same muscles that didn't get their rest the night before. Many of us are literally beating ourselves up and we don't even know it.

Believe it or not, your Dentist actually may have the ability to help prevent those morning headaches and/or migraines. With the use of a simple device that is custom fitted to a person's individual bite, nearly 70% of a person's clenching ability can be shut down during sleep. The device is called an NTI-tss splint. The title stands for Nociceptive Trigeminal Inhibition tension suppression system (NTI). The NTI received FDA approval in 1998 for clenching suppression and in 2001 for migraine prevention. This device is custom fitted generally in the dentist's office and is adjusted to a position that reduces a person's clenching ability. To understand how this NTI splint works, try this: place a clean hard piece of plastic, such as a pen, between your back teeth, hold it in place lightly and then reach up with the palms of your hands, place them on your temples, and then repeatedly squeeze and release on the pen using those back teeth. Notice how much the muscles over the temples move. Now, place the same pen between your upper and lower front teeth, with it pointing straight forward. Once again, with the palms of your hands feeling the temples, squeeze on the pen. Notice now how much less muscle movement occurs. Your front and back teeth are wired or innervated with different types of nerves. The thinner more delicate front teeth have a built in protective mechanism to keep you from fracturing your teeth. The NTI exploits this protective neurological mechanism by allowing a person to bite only on their front teeth making this splint unique in its function. Conventional mouthpiece night guards are simply designed to protect the teeth by covering the back molars. Although teeth are protected from grinding, the "full coverage" mouthpiece perpetuates or can intensify already intense jaw clenching. With the NTI, the muscles are able to relax and rest during sleep by shutting down the clenching intensity. Waking up without a headache becomes normal, instead of an infrequent event. Think about it, if you exercised all night long every night, eventually the muscles that you were using wouldn't be able to function normally and would be chronically painful. Anyone lifting weights knows that you need to have days of rest built into your regimen in order for the muscles to relax and grow. Take a tip from the pros and give your clenching muscles a break. Too much exercise can be harmful.

Dr Mark Malterud has practiced comprehensive dentistry in the Highland Park area of St. Paul for over 20 years. For many of those years he has been helping people find relief for their headaches and migraines and has had the opportunity to work with the developer of the NTI on its uses and protocols . To find out more about the NTI and how it could help you, check out the website at www.headachehope.com, or call Harlene at Dr. Malterud's office at 651-699-2822.

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