Managing Pain vs Pain Elimination:
The American Academy of Pain Management is the largest group of health care providers specifically dedicated to managing pain. I am a long term Diplomate of that group but have always had problems with pain management rather than pain elimination being the primary focus of that group. The beauty of physiologic treatment is it’s focus on eliminating the underlying causes of pain rather than focusing on managing of pain. I expect and routinely “cure” my patients while physicians expect to manage their patients pain. The dichotomy of treating the symptom or eliminating the underlying origins of pain is a very different universe. I have always found it difficult to accept incomplete pain relief as anything other than failure though in actuality 50, 60, or 70 percent pain relief can be a huge success for patients.
Eliminating pain by correction of the underlying causes is always better than managing pain with medications. This is especially true of head and neck pain, facial pain and migraines.
The Trigeminal Nerve is the at the root of all headaches and migraines. Pain management typically involves medications directed at the Neurotransmitters released by the Trigeminal Nervous System and the Trigemino-Vascular System.
Neurotransmitters are responsible for the transmission of nerve impulses from one neuron to the next. While medications can effect the balance of chemicals in the brain the most effective method of eliminating pain is by changing the neural input so the balance of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in the brain is in physiological balance for pain prevention.
Physiologic Dentistry is the best method of reducing noxious input to the CNS through the Trigeminal Nerve.
The goal is not just pain reduction or pain management but elimination of pain through creation of healthy physiologic state and correction of patterns of neurotransmitter release, ie correction of the underlying chemical imbalances by correction of neural input patterns.
According to Wikipedia “Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that enable neurotransmission. They transmit signals across a chemical synapse, such as in a physiologic junction, from one neuron (nerve cell) to another “target” neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell.[1] Neurotransmitters are released from synaptic vesicles in synapses into the synaptic cleft, where they are received by receptors on other synapses. Many neurotransmitters are synthesized from simple and plentiful precursors such as amino acids, which are readily available from the diet and only require a small number of biosynthetic steps to convert them. Neurotransmitters play a major role in shaping everyday life and functions. Their exact numbers are unknown but more than 100 chemical messengers have been identified”
