Chiropractic Care Can Ease Jaw Pain Related to TMJ After Auto Injury

Jaw pain is a fairly typical problem reported by people after a car accident, and it can be tough for some physicians to find the root of the problem. Complicating the issue, oftentimes you won't experience TMJ pain until many weeks or months after the incident.

Dr. Ulvin has treated many individuals with jaw pain after an injury, and the medical research explains what produces these types of symptoms. During a auto injury, the tissues in your neck are oftentimes stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve injury. This can obviously cause pain in the neck and back, but since your nervous system is one functioning unit, inflammation of the nerves can cause problems in other parts of your body.

For example, with radicular pain, irritation of a nerve can cause prickling or pins and needles in the arm or hand. Similarly, it can affect parts of your body above the injured tissues, like your head and jaw. Headaches after auto injury are very common because of neck injury, and the TMJ works the same way. Dr. Ulvin sees this very often in our Stacy office.

Research Shows Chiropractic Care Helps TMJ Pain After Car Accident

Research indicates that the source of many jaw or TMJ symptoms originates in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck problem can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The trick to dealing with these symptoms is simple: Dr. Ulvin will work to return your spine back to health, relieving the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured tissues, and removing the irritation to the nerves in your spine.

Dr. Ulvin finds that jaw and headache issues often resolve once we return your spine to its healthy state.

If you reside in Stacy and you've been hurt in a crash, Dr. Ulvin can help. We've been treating auto injury patients for many years and we can most likely help you, too. Give our office a call today at (651) 462-3243 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.