CranioRehab News, Updates and More

Problems with dental care? Quest, the magazine for the MDA Foundation, had a great article by Bill Greenberg with tips and ideas on how to maintain good oral health in people with neuromuscular disease, muscular distrophy, trismus and other disabilities. Tips include special toothbrushes, finding a dentist, and treating trismus.

TMJ pain is unpredictable and can strike at anytime, and anywhere. Knowing a few tricks to relieve your pain is essential to your comfort and life’s enjoyment.

Internal derangement is a Temporomandibular Joint disorder which manifests it's self in the abnormal position of the TMJ disk. It is 3-5 times more common in women, then men. You can find the details of this interesting Essay by The Boston University School of Medicine, on Medscape Nurse News.

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A new double-blind study at University of Groningen showed no increased effectiveness of Dexamethasone to improve TMJ arthrocentesis.

Over their lifetime, over three quarters of people can have TMJ problems, but only 5-10% actually need therapy.  These and other interesting facts on TMJ disorder are reviewed in a great overview article in the NY Times by Jane Brody.

Preliminary Results Released from Seven Year Study on TMJ disorder (TMJD) by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). The study, Orofacial Pain: Prospective Evaluation and Risk Assessment (OPPERA), collected excellent data on the risks for TMJD.

Launch of the XEROS Dry Mouth Pump. This new product alleviates the debilitation from severe chronic dry mouth. Chronic dry mouth is often a side-effect from radiation therapy to the head, neck, mouth, tongue, jaw, and nose.

The XEROS Dry Mouth Pump provides continual hydration throughout the day and night by providing small amounts of liquid to the mouth via a controllable pump for improved hydration, function and health.

The CRAC 5-5-30 is an aggressive stretching protocol for the jaw to help overcome trismus with a TheraBite or OraStretch® press.  It updates the standard 5-5-30 or 7-7-7 protocol by incorporating a PNF CRAC (Contract-Relax with Antagonist Contract) stretching session.

The details on how brushing can helps prevent cardiovascular disease. 

What is the average opening of the mouth and jaw? In an adult? A man? A woman? A child?

Here is a good article on the using hot and cold therapies to help people reduce pain and swelling, and to improve range-of-motion. It has some great footnoted points on dealing with acute and soft-tissue injuries.

Secret Agents on ADVANCE for Physical Therapy & Rehab Medicine