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Jaw pain is a relatively common problem that can majorly impact your life. From eating to speaking to yawning or sneezing, even mild jaw pain can quickly lead to chronic discomfort and long-term issues like chronic headaches or ear pain.
Richard Blackburn, DMD, MA, is skilled in diagnosing and treating jaw pain, including pain from TMJ disorder, helping patients at Volterra Dental relieve discomfort while preventing more serious complications. In this post, learn what causes recurrent jaw pain and why seeking treatment right away is important.
Jaw pain 101
Your jaw joint forms where the lower jaw bone or mandible meets the temporal bone of your skull. The union of the two bones gives the joint its anatomical name: temporomandibular joint or TMJ. Each joint contains a tiny cushion or disc that facilitates smooth, pain-free movement of the joint when you bite, chew, or speak.
While temporary jaw pain can occur after eating chewy or hard foods, recurrent, chronic, or persistent pain is almost always a sign of a serious underlying problem that needs to be evaluated in our office.
Recurrent jaw pain can have lots of causes, including:
- Tooth or jaw infection
- Ear infection
- Cavities
- Arthritis
- Facial or oral trauma
- Gum disease
Because of the joints’ proximity to your ears, recurrent jaw pain can cause other symptoms, like ear pain, “ringing” sounds, or chronic headaches.
Understanding TMJ disorder
Often, recurrent jaw pain involves a problem with the temporomandibular joints or the way they work. In fact, TMJ disorder is the name of a chronic condition that happens when the jaw joints become irritated and inflamed, sometimes due to overuse, but often due to underlying problems with your bite mechanics.
When your bite is unbalanced, the strain on your jaw joints is unbalanced, too. This can quickly lead to overuse of the muscles that control your jaws and irritation of the joint itself. Missing teeth, poorly aligned teeth, disc erosion, or even stress can all lead to muscle tension and painful TMJ symptoms.
TMJ pain may accompany other symptoms, like clicking noises or sticking sensations when you open your mouth to eat, yawn, or sneeze. Without proper treatment, TMJ tends to worsen, and so do its symptoms.
Why prompt treatment is critical
Jaw pain is never normal — even a minor amount of discomfort is your body’s way of telling you that something isn’t right with your jaws or the tissues that control or surround it. Ignoring your body’s “signals” can lead to far more complex problems requiring more extensive and costly treatment.
Underlying jaw problems can worsen without prompt evaluation, leading to worse symptoms and jaw dysfunction. Underlying infections can also cause jaw pain; the germs that cause disease can spread to the bone or other body areas without treatment.
Jaw pain caused by an uneven bite balance can lead to excessive tooth wear, eventually contributing to cavities, gum recession, and tooth loss. Unmanaged jaw pain can also cause chronic headaches and ear pain, significantly affecting comfort, health, and quality of life.
Find out what’s causing your jaw pain
Jaw pain might not seem like a big deal, especially if it’s minor. But remember: No pain is normal, and the sooner you have it evaluated, the easier it can be treated.
To find out what’s causing your recurrent jaw pain, request an appointment online or over the phone with Dr. Blackburn and the team at Volterra Dental in Los Alamitos, California, today.