Nothing is more painful to parent than seeing your child w/ headache and you have little to nothing safe to offer her or him.  Most parents have no clue to what professional to take headache prone child to diagnose and treat. Unfortunately, some children are prone to tension headaches and need Orofacial Pain Specialist.

Options for relief:  1) Pediatrician 2) Pedodontist 3) Pediatric Neurologist 4) Orofacial pain Specialist

Grind-Clench Source Tension HA: 1) 15 to 33 % of children grind their teeth. 2) Grind-Clench is one primary reason for pediatric headache. 3) Grind is a movement disorder. 4) Dentistry is not trained to diagnose grind-clench 5) Poor occlusion can increase grind-clench but it does not cause it 6) For mom w/o anatomy training, the side head is chewing muscle 7 ) As a professional interested in reducing suffering from pediatric headache 8) refer to specialist trained in the chewing system's movement disorder, Orofacial Pain Specialist

Pediatric neurologist & parents are forced by insurance company: 1) only use weak drugs 2) take risk using drugs not tested on children 3) Beg insurance to cover Integrative tools proven effective 4) Beg your Congressman to over ride insurance companies greed 5) Pray someday insurance will use science to decide coverage

Insurance companies who care nothing about your child suffering, use greed as basis for their decision on coverage not science. Refusing to cover chronic pain; so, the only health care professionals who can help your child can stay in business if they accept insurance companies manipulation.

Can you do a specific job in your occupation, well, if it takes 20 minutes to do best work but you company only gives you 5 minutes. Welcome to medical field, especially government medicine.

Pediatric Tension Headache:

1. Moderate to severe clenching or grinding
2. Tension in muscles
3. High anxiety
4. Poor sleep
5. Poor posture
6. No cardiovascular conditioning
7. Traumas jaw, neck, or head
8. Other head, neck, sinus, ear, teeth pains
9. Emotional hyjacking or PTSD

Caring parents:

1. Most parents don’t think of night grinding teeth as cause child’s tension headache
2. As caring parents, 1^st job is determine damage coming from nocturnal grind-clench
3. Usually we consult medicine for tension headache and their #1 tool in headache is medications
4. Meds not great path for children, the safety has not been tested
5. Orofacial pain specialist uses Integrative tools to manage tension headache
6. Orofacial Tools are designed to reduce inflammation in muscles, ligaments, and joints chewing system.
7. Attention to other sources inflammation such as neck, ears, sinus, etc
8. Three forms of muscle inflammation: a) Tension muscles, b) Grinding/clenching c) Traumas
9. Takes team to manage pediatric tension headache

The profession who studied grinding & clenching most is orofacial pain specialist.

Destructive Grinding at night: 

1. Grinding is movement disorder
2. Eleven tools required to control
3. Simple nightguard is not enough
4. Destructive destroys teeth, muscle, joint, ligaments, Menicus
5. Hidden & destructive
6. Can be mild, moderate, or destructive
7. Difficult to determine or prove
8. Damages more than baby teeth & 1st molar

Hints of grinding include: 

• Temple pain
• Jaw pain
• Worse upon awakening
• Wear primary teeth or first molar
• Mom hears grinding noises
• Broken retainers-Hawley-spacers
• Wears through Invisalign or suck down appliances
• Stress/Anxiety high
• Tooth sensitivity
• Enlarged Masseters (squared jaw look)
• Knots in Masseter or Trapezius
• Cracks, micro fractures, marginal breakdown fillings

Headache disrupts school-social-sleep

1. When to refer Orofacial Pain Specialist: a) Escalates to severe, b) Escalates daily c)  Fear using meds on children d) Proven grinding/clenchin e) Intake Advil irritates stomach f) Child suffers even w/ valiant pediatrician effort
2. Pediatric Tension Headache Therapy: a) Integrative tools targets source inflammation b) Limited use safe meds to manage chewing system inflammation (optional), c) Target all "sources" pain d) Destructive grinding e) Tension in muscles f) Manage stresses or anxiety biofeedback or counseling g) Improve Health habits for healing (especially poor sleep or sleep breathing) h) Check other sources inflammation: hypermobility, allergies, chemical sensitivites i) Manage past traumas's with poor healing j) Patient manages poor health habits

Aggravators-Perpetrators:

                        Poor health habits (sleep, exercise, nutrition, thinking)

                        Mod severe grinding clenching

                        High stress or anxiety

                        Frequent neck-jaw-tooth pain

                        Multiple Trauma: Blows jaw-face-head & MVA (whiplash damages jaw joint)

Parafunction & pain: watch inc grinding due situation daytime events