Jaw pain is a fairly common problem reported by people after a car crash, and it can be tough for some health practitioners to diagnose the cause of the problem. Complicating the matter, oftentimes you won't develop TMJ symptoms until many weeks or months after a crash.
Dr. John Nowak has helped many people with jaw pain after an injury, and the medical literature explains what causes these types of symptoms. During a collision, the tissues in your neck are commonly stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve damage. This can obviously cause pain in the neck and back, but since your central nervous system is one functioning unit, inflammation of the nerves can cause pain in other parts of your body.
For instance, with radicular pain, irritation of a nerve can cause tingling or numbness in the arm and hand. Similarly, it can affect parts of your body above the injured area, like your head and jaw. Headaches after a collision are very common because of neck injury, and the jaw works the same way. Dr. John Nowak sees this very often in our Buffalo office.
Research shows that the root of many jaw or TMJ problems begins in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck injury can fix the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The key to dealing with these symptoms is simple: Dr. John Nowak will work to return your spine back to health, alleviating the inflammation, treating the injured areas, and removing the irritation to the nerves in your spine.
Dr. John Nowak has found that jaw and headache issues often resolve once we return your spine to its healthy state.
If you live in Buffalo and you've been hurt in a crash, Dr. John Nowak can help. We've been treating auto injury patients since 1981, and we can probably help you, too. Give our office a call today at (716) 825-4121 for an appointment.
Ciancaglini R, Testa M, Radaelli G. Association of neck pain with symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction in the general adult population. Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 1999;31:17-22.
Brantingham JW, Cassa TK, Bonnefin D, Pribicevic M, Robb A, et al. Manipulative and multimodal therapy for upper extremity and temporomandibular disorders: a system review. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2013;36(3):143-201.
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