Face pain and its relationship to the jaw
Facial pain can be debilitating and a big cause of stress for those who suffer from it. I personally have people present to my practice who get this pain daily. It is often the case that they have seen a number of other practitioners who are missing one key factor – how the jaw (TMJ) can trigger facial pain. By the time these people arrive to me, they feel they’ve tried everything, and are quite frustrated that nothing has changed.
It is a great joy of mine to help people reduce or resolve their craniofacial pain with a TMJ treatment plan, and I hope to help more people avoid botox injections for their TMJ pain, or having to use a night splint for the rest of their lives! (Of course, I can’t guarantee I can avoid these outcomes in every person).
How the jaw can create facial pain
The jaw is supposed to happily hang off of our faces and easily move open/close/side to side without causing much trouble. However, if you have some kind of TMJ dysfunction, it can be very aggravating to the muscles and nerves in your neck and facial region.
Radiating pain through the face and more specifically behind the eye is a common sign that someone’s jaw might be part of their face pain issue. The jaw has a close relationship with the trigeminal nerve, which controls sensation throughout the face, as well as being involved in biting and chewing. Once the jaw becomes dysfunction, and you begin to alter the movement of your whole face during biting, chewing, and talking, the trigeminal nerve can get sensitised which leads to your facial pain.
Other signs of TMJ dysfunction include chronic neck pain, migraines, light and sound sensitivity, and even unexplained dizziness or vertigo. I have even seen babies with jaw dysfunction from traumatic birth experiences.
What causes TMJ dysfunction?
This is the most common question I get, when I diagnose someone with TMJ dysfunction! The possibilities are honestly, endless. It might be as simple as you began clenching and grinding your teeth during a period of stress. Very rarely, people have a trauma to their face or head, which can be linked to the start of the facial pain. Others may have had extensive dental work, braces, orthodontic work, or surgery, where the tooth or jaw alignment was altered but never followed up on.
Whatever the cause, you don’t need to live with your facial pain.
