Your Drugs May Not Be The Right Prescription
Teeth, gums and bone structure affect and are affected by one’s overall health. So it was fitting to study pharmacology in my dental training, since medications affect the system. In interviews with patients I am increasingly asked my opinion about their prescription drugs.

Such was the case with a new patient in St Louis who admitted he was addicted to an anti-depressant, prescribed for the off-label purpose of handling his insomnia. Another patient consulted me about her teenage daughter’s headaches. Her daughter had seen several specialists who, unable to diagnose the cause of the girl’s headaches, prescribed an antidepressant, another off-label use of this med. Having treated TMJ patients for thirty years with headaches, I was able to discover what was causing them and give the girl relief – without drugs. The information I use has been around since the ‘90s, so isn’t new. But, it doesn’t involve surgery or drugs and so isn’t widely promoted. [Read more...]