Adjustment of dental occlusion in treatment of chronic cervicobrachial pain and headache

The hypothesis that the response to group conventional physical therapy of patients suffering from chronic cervicobrachial pain and/or headache can be improved by adjusting dental occlusion, was tested. Forty patients seeking treatment were interviewed and examined prior to treatment, and 6 weeks, 1 2 months and 60 months after treatment. All patients underwent routine phys ical therapies. They were pairwise matched for age, gender and type of dent al occlusion, and randomly allocated to a true occlusal adjustment group or to a mock adjustment group. The patients and the examiners were unaware of the type of dental treatment given. The outcome variables included subject ive pain and discomfort, cervical spine mobility and pain on movement, and comparison of relative EMG activities. The shortterm response to therapy wa s good in both groups. In the long-term, however, the response was signific antly better in the patients who had undergone occlusal adjustment than in the mock-adjusted controls.