Jaw pain is a fairly typical condition experienced by people after a car crash, and it can be confusing for some physicians to identify the source of the problem. Complicating the matter, very often you won't experience TMJ pain until many weeks or months after the original injury.
Oregon Medical Centers PC has helped many men and women with jaw pain after an injury, and the medical research explains what triggers these types of problems. During a collision, the tissues in your neck are oftentimes stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve damage. This can clearly cause pain in the neck and back, but since your nervous system is one functioning unit, irritation of the nerves can cause issues in other parts of your body.
For instance, with radicular pain, irritation of a nerve can cause prickling or pins and needles in the arm and hand. Similarly, it can affect parts of your body above the injured tissues, like your head and jaw. Headaches after a crash are very common because of neck injury, and the TMJ works the same way. Oregon Medical Centers PC sees this very frequently in our Aloha / Beaverton, OR office.
Studies have shown that the source of many jaw or TMJ symptoms originates in the cervical spine and that treatment of the underlying neck injury can fix the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The trick to resolving these symptoms is simple: Oregon Medical Centers PC will work to restore your spinal column back to health, relieving the inflammation, treating the injured tissues, and removing the irritation to the nerves in your spine.
Oregon Medical Centers PC finds that jaw and headache symptoms often resolve once we return your spine to its healthy state.
If you live in Aloha / Beaverton, OR and you've been hurt in a car crash, Oregon Medical Centers PC can help. We've been treating auto injury patients since 1990, and we can most likely help you, too. Give our office a call today at (503) 642-2845 for an appointment or consultation.
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.
Dr. Bhasin grew up in Southern California and did her undergraduate work in pre-med at California State University Northridge, as well as Humboldt State University in California. Dr. Bhasin attended the University of Western States in Portland Oregon where she earned her Doctor of Chiropractic Degree. Dr. Bhasin has passed her National boards and her State Boards. Dr. Bhasin loves helping people and finds great joy helping injured people get out of pain and get their life back again. She has helped thousands of patients.
