Eye Pain can be related to medical issues. If you are experiencing Eye Pain, Behind the Eye pain or flashing lights in your eye your first stop should be at an ophthalmologist to rule out both eye issues and intracranial issues in the brain.
The good new is that most eye pain and behind the eyes pain is actually referred Myofascial Pain and a dentist trained in Orofacial Pain, Craniofacial Pain and especially Neuromuscular Dentistry can probably help you out. A small percentage of the time it can be a sinus infection but studies have shown most patients with sinus pain DO NOT HAVE AN Infection.
The Trigeminal Nerve is usually the mediator of most chronic head and neck pain including all types of headaches and migraines. The Trigeminal Nerve goes to the teeth, gums, periodontal ligaments, dental pulps, jaw muscles, jaw joints, lining of the sinuses and control the blood flow to the anterior two thirds of the meninges of the brain.
Myofascial Pain in the head and neck is usually related to jaw function.
There is an excellent website (www.triggerpoints.net) that details the patterns of referred myofascial pain.
The Sphenopalatine Ganglion is the largest parasympathetic ganglion of the head and it has significant input from sympathetic nerves. It is located on the Maxillary branch of the Trigeminal Nerve.
Eye and retro-orbital pain pain and headaches are usually also influenced by the autonomic nervous system.
Neuromuscular Dentists are the most equipped to deal with problems from these structures. The ULF-TENS works trigeminally innervated muscles as well as on the Sphenopalatine Ganglion. These are the primary mediators of myofascial pain that refers to the head. The TENS also works on facial muscles thru the facial nerve.
Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks can turn off retro-orbital and eye pain from myofascial sources. They can also be used to prevent and mitigate migraines, cluster headaches and TMJ disorders.
There are numerous videos on youtube of my patients responding to SPG Blocks, Neuromuscular Treatment and direct treatment of Myofascial pain with trigger point injection and Travell Spray and Stretch Techniques.
Biomed Res Int. 2018 Jul 9;2018:2694517
Correlations between the Visual Apparatus and Dental Occlusion: A Literature Review.
The development of visual functions takes place in the first months of postnatal life and is completed around the one year of age. In this period, the maturation of the retina and the visual pathways occur, and binocular bonds are established at the level of the visual cortex. During this phase and then for a few years, a certain plasticity of the visual functions remains, which seem therefore susceptible to change both in a pejorative sense (by pathogens) and in an improving sense (for example, by therapeutic measures). This plasticity involves also the oculomotor system. Due to this plasticity, many researchers believe that there are some functional correlations between the visual and the stomatognathic apparatus. But the scientific evidence of this statement has not been clarified yet.
Aim:
The purpose of this review is therefore to analyze the clinical data in this field and finally establish their level of evidence. Studies have been collected from the main databases, based on keywords.
Results:
The results showed a middle level of evidence since most of the data derive from case-control studies and cross-sectional studies.
Conclusions:
The level of evidence allows establishing that there is a correlation between ocular disorders (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, exophoria, and an unphysiological gait due to ocular convergence defects) and dental occlusion, but it is not possible to establish the cause-effect relationship. Future studies should be aimed at establishing higher levels of evidence (prospective, controlled, and randomized studies).
Another study by Monaco explains the association between occlusion and ocular disorders. Intriguing neurophysiological connection:
“Clinical experience in dental practice claims that mandibular latero-deviation is connected both to eye dominance and to defects of ocular convergence. The trigeminal nerve is the largest and most complex of the twelve cranial nerves. The trigeminal system represents the connection between somitic structures and those derived from the branchial arches, collecting the proprioception from both somitic structures and oculomotor muscles. The intermedius nucleus of the medulla is a small perihypoglossal brainstem nucleus, which acts to integrate information from the head and neck and relays it on to the nucleus of the solitary tract where autonomic responses are generated”
