Intro
Migraine is a chronic systemic inflammatory condition, so there are a million angles from which to view what migraine is and its root causes. In my coaching practice I see many migraineurs withTMJ issues, sinus surgeries, sinus headaches, mercury amalgams, a history of braces, and the usual dental fillings. Some may also have underlying abcesses and low-grade bacterial infections that contribute to their migraines.
Years of coaching have taught me more than ever now to start to pay close attention to a client’s dental health when reviewing all the factors that may be playing a role. In this blog post I’d like to do a simple overview of the ways I’ve become aware that dental health can play a role in migraine.
Please note that I am not a dentist, nor do I intent to give dental advice in this blog post.
Braces, Retainers, & TMJ
I’ve never had a cavity in my life, much less a mercury amalgam, so I never thought that dental issues played much of a role in my migraine pattern before I healed them. I always thought that the temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) I suffered from was just a quirky byproduct of my hypermobile body and scoliosis pattern. But in reviewing my own history and in realizing that my loud clicking jaw started around when I got braces at age 14, I can now see how years of this misalignment caused by the intervention of braces did contribute to or exacerbate other factors that played a role in my migraines.
Researchers say they don’t understand what causes TMD. But it is commonly known that TMD and migraine often go hand in hand:
[P]atients with chronic migraine, meaning attacks occurring on more than 15 days per month, are three times as likely to report more severe symptoms of TMD than patients with episodic migraine. (Source)
Dentists sometimes try to resolve headaches and correct a TMD misalignment by filing down teeth to improve a person’s bite. But I have a different theory of TMD. I believe that TMD may only be overtly caused by a misaligned bite – ironically often induced by braces – when a person has an underlying connective tissue disorder (very common in those with migraine).
If, like me, you already have connective tissue problems (such as Ehlers-danlos Sydrome, scoliosis, hypermobility, and laxity of joints), something as seemingly harmless as braces or retainers can have incredible system-wide effects that are felt even years after the braces are removed. This is because a person with very lax tendons and ligaments (including those in the temporomandibular joint space) will feel the effects of tensions and pressures applied by braces more intensely, since they don’t have the same connective tissue strength to keep things aligned.
As a craniosacral therapist, I can now see that the pressures put on the cervical bones from my two years of braces rippled through my system in profound ways. The intricate way that cervical bones articulate with one another affects everything from the flow and vitality of the craniosacral fluid in the body to the way a person’s midline (spine and dural tube) organizes itself all the way down to the coccyx. Pull on something in one area and you will inadvertently pull on things in other areas – forcing the body to compensate to these unnatural tension patterns and adding strain, stress, and energy demand on the overall system.
Despite having received intra-oral work to help improve my TMD, the only thing that has actually worked for me has been mineral balancing – specifically with manganese. Manganese has helped to strengthen the tendon and ligament integrity throughout my body, including the ligaments in my right temperomanibular joint. My teeth have floated back to where they wanted to be in the first place before the braces, and my parent’s good intentions and financial investment in my teeth has been lost. But my jaw no longer hurts and clicks.
Amalgams
Amalgams are a known source of mercury exposure and toxicity, but they are also a source of other metal exposures like tin, copper, and other alloys used in these fillings. From what I’ve read, amalgams, like fillings, historically have contained a variety of different ratios of mercury and other metals. Mercury is highly toxic, and is an especially powerful disruptor of copper enzymes in particular. People with mercury toxicity also often have sulfur sensitivity issues.
Mercury is problematic not only because its heavy atomic weight displaces vital minerals needed for other enzyme functions, but because it is highly acidifying. This increased acidification of the body’s tissues can create an environment more hospitable to viruses, bacteria, molds, and parasites including microscopic and macroscopic parasites. And the increased acidity of bodily tissues can undermine organ function and prompt the body to seek to buffer this acidity with minerals like calcium, leading to calcification of capillaries, veins, and arteries, affecting blood flow and oxygenation.
Mercury vapour can be released into the brain by drinking tea or acidic or hot foods:
An estimated 80% of the mercury vapor from dental amalgam fillings is absorbed by the lungs and passed to the rest of the body, particularly the brain, kidney, liver, lung, and gastrointestinal tract. The half life of metallic mercury varies depending on the organ where the mercury was deposited and the state of oxidation, and mercury deposited in the brain can have a half life of up to several decades. (Source)
The good news is that mercury can be removed from the body, even once it has been lodged deeply within the brain, with the help of plant-based supplements that can gently chelate it from tissue stores. And mercury levels often reveal themselves more definitively on a second HTMA test as they get naturally mobilized with help from nutritional supplements like zinc and selenium.
Of course, it goes without saying that in order to improve migraine, it is most optimal to have the source of heavy metal toxicity, in this case mercury, removed. But some people do not have access to a holistic dentist, which is vitally important, as mercury vapours can be released during the removal process (up into the brain no less). It is important that those wanting to remove amalgams make the decision as to whether the benefits outweigh any complications that could arise from the removal process, keeping in mind all the factors that removal will have as they work with their holistic dentist.
Mercury toxicity of any kind, but most commonly caused by amalgams, can be a substantial roadblock to healing migraine. When I have clients with extreme mercury toxicity, I can support them to help the body to be optimally nourished so that they are more resourced when I refer them out for work with a specialist in heavy metal and merury detox. An HTMA is an excellent way to see to what extent mercury amalgams may be playing a role in a person’s overall heavy metal load, and is therefore often an invaluable test for illuminating the true cause of a person’s migraines.
Porcelain/Resin Fillings
Porcelain fillings are considerably less harmful than mercury amalgam fillings, or so it appears. But they do contain BPA and aluminum, as well as other obscure elements like strontium, zirconium, tin, titanium, etc. that do play a role in mineral dynamics. Many of the obscure element in fillings are put there so that dental fillings will show up on an x-ray.
I often see elevated levels of these minerals in the HTMA of people with a lot of fillings (although these metals can show up from other sources as well). And it’s important to realize that everyone has a different detox ability depending on their mineral status, so it’s not just the material itself that is inherently toxic, but how well a person can metabolize it that determines whether it’s damaging or not.
Not much is known about these obscure elements in terms of how they affect nutritional minerals, and this is not an area of expertise I have, but I do see these levels of metals in fillings naturally improve or get metabolized out in most people as a natural result of a nutritional mineral balancing plan. For those with more extreme toxicities from fillings, I refer out to a practitioner specializing in metal detox.
Dental Abcesses
Dental abscesses and infections can develop in the gums or the root of the tooth, leading to inflammation and lymphatic overload in the area of the mouth, jaw, and head – and in turn contributing to, causing, or exacerbating a tendency towards migraine headaches.
In Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, we look at the iron/copper (bacterial/viral ratio) to stay alert to the potential for underlying bacterial infections, since iron is highly acidifying and therefore creates an environment conducive to bacterial overgrowth. When iron levels are high in relation to copper, iron may become bio-unavailable in oxidized form, leading to fatigue and anemia. Both iron and copper utilize one of the same enzymes, ceruloplasmin, to become bioavailable on a cellular level. Without this bioavailability, cells can’t get oxygen and produce ATP (cellular energy) as efficiently.
I haven’t honestly seen this pattern of iron excess yet in my coaching practice. All the HTMAs I’ve done for migraineurs thus far have revealed very low iron levels. But I still stay alert to this pattern, as I find it very likely that a low-grade bacterial infection in a tooth would put a strain on a migraineur’s already-congested lymphatic system in the head.
Sinus Lift Surgery
I’ve recently had two clients who have received this invasive surgery. A sinus lift surgery (aka maxillary sinus floor augmentation) is performed to increase bone in the upper jaw before dental implants. With bone loss, the sinus is moved to make space for the bone graft. The sinus graft isn’t actually in the sinus but rather located below the sinus membrane. The entire paranasal sinus is innervated by the trigeminal nerve, a nerve known to be implicated in migraine.
Post-operative complications from this surgery can include pain, swelling, edema, infection of the surgical site, bone resorption, etc. The typical symptoms of this surgery can include migraine headache, midfacial discomfort while running, pressure with head position change, and sinus infection (source).
Surgery of any kind can in and of itself contribute to migraine because of the way that the antibiotics inevitably administered after it can compromise gut flora and overload the body’s detoxification systems. Surgeries in general can be traumatic, especially longer surgeries that can last as long as an hour as the sinus lift surgery does.
Closing Thoughts
Without question, dental health plays a role in a person’s migraine pattern. Looking at dental factors is crucial when considering how to resolve migraines from a holistic viewpoint. An HTMA can help to reveal metal toxicities from dental work that were not revealed or considered previously. Braces and retainers can put strain on the person’s whole system. Therefore, for anyone with migraines who has had any of the above dental work, finding a holistic dentist, doing an HTMA, and taking excellent care of one’s dental health may all play critical roles in resolving their migraines.
If you are interested in an HTMA and coaching, please check out my 4-mont coaching program, “Personalized Mineral Balancing for Migraine Freedom.”