Electromyography is the measurement of the function of the muscles. 

It can be used to evaluate if a particular chewing muscle is fatigued from overuse (grinding).  Fatigued muscles can cause symptoms such as headaches (migraines, too!), neckaches, ringing in the ears, tingling in the fingertips and other symptoms that go outside of the mouth.  In dentistry, this is important because if your jaw is in the wrong place or your bite is not right, then it affects the muscles of the whole chewing system because they have to work so hard.

It is also used to evaluate the group of chewing muscles that need to work together in a co-ordinated fashion.  It can tell if one muscle is firing out of time with another when assessing the bite.  The more efficient this team of muscles is, the better the health of your whole jaw system.

Finding the position of the jaw when the muscles are quiet enables Dr Heit to fabricate an orthotic that can be worn in the mouth.  The orthotic can prove an ideal bite position to establish your dentistry to before dental treatment even begins.  You can determine if you 'feel' the difference and Dr. Heit can measure it to see if the bite is truely stable. This was and is the most amazing part for Dr. Heit's patients that had chronic pain as they watched their symptoms disappear with the new bite as solid evidence.

The muscles are then re-evaluated with the new bite position to make sure they remain stable.  If you can measure it-it is fact, if you cannot-it is opinion.  From this position, a diagnosis and treatment plan options can then be presented.  You may need less dentistry than you think!