The Raman Center for Headache and Jaw Pain Treatment

Tingling / numbness in fingers and arms

Russell had numbness and tingling of his hands and loss of grip strength. He did not realize that it was a result of his poor bite relation
Click Here to View
Russell's Success Story
Paresthesia of fingers (a sensation of pricking, tingling, or creeping on the skin)

About 35% of TMD patients have a sensation of pricking, tingling, or creeping on the skin of fingers that has no objective cause. Many times they feel reduced grip strength. Often they have explained it away, not realizing we could help with NM dentistry.

In Neuromuscular dentistry, we consider and correct the relation of the mandible (lower jaw) to maxilla (upper jaw) which is part of the cranium. One of these six dimensions is “roll”. The others are vertical, anterior/posterior, lateral, pitch and yaw. Roll is the position of the mandible as seen from the front, where the right side of the mandible is higher or lower than the left side.

This woman exhibits poor posture of the head and neck. The shoulder plane and eye plane are not parallel to each other. There is compensation in this area due to poor bite relation. When the bite is rolled (higher on one side for example) the shoulder will be lower on the opposite side to the roll. This is due to the fact that the 'rolled' high bite results in compensatory shoulder tilt from feedback to the balance organ - the semicircular canals and utricle and saccule otoliths in the inner ear.

A simpler way to understand it is as follows:

Imagine the child’s stacking blocks. When one block is off center, the next one has to be off set to keep from falling off. Our body posture has to work in a similar manner to keep the balance.

Brachial plexus of nerves exit at C4, 5, 6 levels, travel between anterior and middle Scalene muscles. They later travel between the clavicle and first rib and down the arm.

A schematic view of the brachial plexus of nerves and blood vessels that are formed by the cervical nerves. A dissection view of the brachial plexus of nerves and blood vessels that exit from the cervical region and travel between anterior and middle Scalene muscles. They later travel between the clavicle and first rib and down the arm.

This shoulder compensation for a tilted bite etc. causes spasm of the scalenes and compression of the brachial plexus and vessels while emerging from between the scalenes. Pinching this nerve causes paresthesia of the dorsum of the hand. Palpate radial pulse and note that on raising the arm the pulse diminishes and explains paresthesia.

It may also occur on the opposite side due to stretching of the scalene muscles through which the brachial structures pass.

This compensation of posture does not stop at this level, as seen in the following image. A pelvic tilt is seen here which could cause symptoms in the hip or knees. So symptoms may be perceived far removed from the mandible. Far-fetched as it may seem, a poor bite has far reaching impact on the body’s posture.

Full View: This woman exhibits poor posture of the head and neck. The shoulder plane and eye plane are not parallel to each other. There is compensation in this area due to poor bite relation.