People don't generally think of a dentist as the healthcare professional to see for recurring headaches or migraines; yet dentists can play a role in diagnosing and even treating your condition. That's because quite often, recurring pain that is felt in the area of the temples on the sides of the head is actually caused by unconscious habits of clenching and/or grinding the teeth. These habits, which often manifest during sleep, put tremendous pressure on the muscles that work your jaw joint, also called the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
The fan-shaped temporalis muscles located over your temples on either side of your head are two of several muscles involved in jaw movement. You can easily feel them working if you put your fingertips on your temples while clenching and unclenching your jaw. When temporalis muscles go into spasm from too much clenching, headache symptoms may result. This is not to say that headaches and migraines are always caused by TMJ problems, also known as temporomandibular disorders (TMD). But given the established link between them, it definitely bears looking into — especially if a diagnosis remains elusive in your case.
