Jaw or TMJ pain is a fairly common problem experienced by many people after a car wreck, and it can be confusing for some doctors to identify the cause of the problem. Complicating the matter, oftentimes you won't develop TMJ symptoms until many weeks or months after a crash.

Dr. Dahlager has helped many men and women with jaw pain after an injury, and the medical research explains what triggers these types of symptoms. During a crash, 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 central nervous system is one functioning unit, inflammation 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 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 crash are very common because of neck injury, and the jaw works the same way. Dr. Dahlager sees this very often in our Noblesville office.

Research indicates that the root of many jaw or TMJ problems starts in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck injury can fix the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The trick to resolving these symptoms is simple: Dr. Dahlager will work to return your spine back to health, relieving the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured areas, and removing the irritation to the nerves in your spine.

Dr. Dahlager has found that jaw and headache issues often resolve once we restore your spine to its healthy state.

If you live in Noblesville and you've been hurt in a crash, Dr. Dahlager can help. We've been treating auto injury patients since 1991, and we can probably help you, too. Give our office a call today at (317) 214-7218 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.