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

Dr. Dahlager has treated many individuals with jaw pain after an injury, and the scientific literature explains what produces these types of symptoms. During a collision, the tissues in your spine are oftentimes 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, irritation of the nerves can cause problems in other parts of your body.

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

Research Shows Chiropractic Lessens TMJ Pain After an Auto Injury

Research shows that the source 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 secret to dealing with these symptoms is simple: Dr. Dahlager will work to return your spine back to health, reducing the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured areas, and eliminating the irritation to the nerves in your spine.

Dr. Dahlager finds that jaw and headache symptoms often resolve once we restore your spine to its healthy state.

If you reside in Noblesville and you've been injured in a crash, Dr. Dahlager can help. We've been working with 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 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.