TMJ Pain After a Car Accident: The Injury Most People Miss
When patients come in after a car accident, they tell me about the neck first, then the back, and maybe a headache. What they rarely mention, until I ask, is their jaw.
That is the problem. The jaw gets hurt in more crashes than most people realize, and because it is not the first thing anyone thinks about, it often goes unchecked for weeks or months.
How a Car Accident Injures the Jaw
The temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, is the hinge on each side of your face where the jawbone meets the skull. You can feel it just in front of your ear when you open and close your mouth. It sits only a few inches from the top of your neck, and the two areas are tied together by muscle and nerve.
In a crash, the jaw can take a hit in a few different ways:
The head snaps back and forth fast enough that the jaw, which hangs relatively loose, gets pulled past its normal range
The teeth clench hard at the moment of impact, loading the joint and the muscles around it
The face or jaw makes direct contact with the steering wheel, airbag, window, or headrest
The seat belt or a hard twist of the head strains the muscles along the side of the neck and jaw
This can happen in a rear-end crash, a side impact, or a collision that seemed fairly minor from the outside. As I explained in my post on how T-bone and rear-end injuries differ, the direction of force changes the injury pattern, but the jaw is vulnerable either way.
Symptoms That Point to the Jaw
TMJ injuries do not always announce themselves as “jaw pain.” Here is what I hear from patients:
Soreness in the jaw when chewing, yawning, or talking for a while
Clicking, popping, or grinding when opening or closing the mouth
A jaw that catches, locks, or will not open as wide as it used to
Pain in or around the ear, or a feeling of fullness, with no ear infection
Headaches at the temples or at the base of the skull
Facial tightness or aching on one or both sides
Neck stiffness that comes along with any of the above
Notice how many of those overlap with other problems. Ear pain sends people to the doctor for an infection that is not there. Headaches get blamed on the neck alone. Jaw soreness gets written off as something dental. Meanwhile the real source is sitting right in the middle of all of it.
Why TMJ Injuries Get Missed
There are a few reasons this one slips through. Everyone is focused on the neck and back after a crash, so nobody asks about the jaw. Symptoms often show up late, which I covered in my post on why accident injuries can take days to appear, so the connection to the collision gets lost. And because jaw soreness feels like such a small thing, patients tend to put up with it until it starts interfering with eating or sleeping.
Where the Neck Fits In
The muscles that open and close your jaw work closely with the muscles of the upper neck. Pain signals from both areas are also processed in overlapping parts of the nervous system, which is why a neck injury can show up as jaw or face pain, and why a jaw injury can show up as neck pain or headaches. If you have been dealing with post-traumatic headaches that have not responded to treatment, the jaw is worth checking.
That is why I look at both. A proper exam includes the cervical spine, with on-site high-frequency digital x-rays when they are warranted, along with how the jaw actually moves.
From there, treatment is based on what the exam shows. Sometimes the neck is the main driver and the jaw settles once the neck does. Sometimes the jaw joint itself has been injured badly enough that you also need a dentist or an oral and maxillofacial specialist. If that is the case, I will tell you plainly and point you in the right direction.
What to Do If Your Jaw Has Been Bothering You Since the Accident
If your jaw is locked and will not open, or if your face took a hard hit and you suspect a fracture, get medical care first. That should not wait.
Otherwise, come in for a free consultation and exam, and mention the jaw even if it seems minor. It is much easier to sort out in the first few weeks than after it has become a habit your body has built around. You can read more about how we handle TMJ care, whiplash, and neck pain, or see our full approach to auto accident care in Greenville.
Dr. Jeff W. Brown, D.C.
Brown Chiropractic Center, Greenville, SC
