Jaw pain is a fairly common problem reported by many people after a car wreck, and it can be hard for some physicians to find the cause of the problem. Complicating the issue, very often you won't experience TMJ symptoms until many weeks or months after the incident.
Dr. Elganainy has helped many individuals 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 commonly stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve damage. 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 pain 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 and hand. Similarly, it can affect parts of your body above the injury, like your head and jaw. Headaches after a collision are very common because of neck injury, and the jaw works the same way. Dr. Elganainy sees this very commonly in our Burton, MI office.
Research indicates that the source of many jaw or TMJ symptoms begins in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck problem can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The key to resolving these symptoms is simple: Dr. Elganainy will work to return your spine back to health, alleviating the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured areas, and eliminating the irritation to the nerves in your spine.
Dr. Elganainy finds that jaw and headache symptoms often resolve once we return your spine to its healthy state.
If you reside in Burton, MI and you've been injured in a crash, Dr. Elganainy can help. We've been working with auto injury patients since 2003, and we can probably help you, too. Give our office a call today at (810) 715-7746 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.
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