Premium
Unilateral or “Side‐Locked” Migrainous Headache With Autonomic Symptoms Linked to Night Guard Use
Author(s) -
Strahlendorf Jean,
Schiffer Randolph,
Strahlendorf Howard
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
headache: the journal of head and face pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.14
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1526-4610
pISSN - 0017-8748
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2008.01235.x
Subject(s) - guard (computer science) , medicine , anesthesia , computer science , programming language
Night guards are commonly prescribed as a palliative measure for bruxism, temporomandibular joint symptoms, and associated disorders. We describe a patient with a 10‐ to 12‐year history of night guard use with concurrent unilateral side‐locked migrainous headaches with autonomic symptoms characteristic of trigeminal autonomic cephalgia. These headaches were refractory to numerous pharmacological interventions. Upon self‐initiated cessation of night guard use, there was complete remission of headaches. We believe the headaches were initiated by night guard‐initiated irritation of the trigeminal nerve and a trigeminal autonomic reflex resulting in unilateral migrainous headache with autonomic signs.