Bite plate treatment for morning headache
The clenching of teeth during the night has long been thought to contribute to or be a cause of morning headache. This study evaluated twelve-morning headache patients who were given dental bite plates or night guards to reduce the headache pain they woke with in the mornings.
First patients were fitted with electrodes to monitor their sleep patterns and their breathing, and the first two nights of the study no measurements were taken. Rather the subjects were given a chance to get used to sleeping with the electrodes and breath monitors. This equipment is known as SLPR which stands for Sleep Laboratory Polygraphic Recording.
For the next five nights, the twelve-morning headache sufferers received no treatment and did not wear the bite plate or dental night guard. Every morning they were evaluated about the levels of their pain and these first five nights, therefore, provided researchers with baseline morning headache measurements for these twelve patients.
For the following eight nights the patients wore bite plates / dental night guards. The bite plate that was fitted was a full coverage bite plate for TMJ disorder that was individually made for each patient. Every morning the levels of pain for the morning headaches were evaluated. These measurements were then compared to the baseline measurements for the first five nights with no treatment.
The study was repeated with the bite plate in different positions, either designed to move the jaw forwards or leave it in a neutral position.
The results were that these bite plates were very effective in treating morning headache by reducing the overall pain by between forty and seventy percent.
View the original morning headache treatment study at this link: A Mandibular Advancement Appliance Reduces Pain and Rhythmic Masticatory Muscle Activity in Patients with Morning Headache