Jaw pain is a fairly common condition reported by many people after a car accident, and it can be confusing for some physicians to find the source of the problem. Complicating the issue, very often you won't develop TMJ pain until many weeks or months after the incident.
Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes has treated 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 spine are often stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve injury. This can obviously 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 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. Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes sees this very commonly in our State College, PA office.
Research indicates that the source of many jaw or TMJ problems originates in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck injury can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The secret to resolving these symptoms is simple: Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes will work to restore your spinal column back to health, decreasing the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured areas, and removing the irritation to the nerves in your spine.
Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes finds that jaw and headache issues often resolve once we return your spine to its healthy state.
If you reside in State College, PA and you've been hurt in a car crash, Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes can help. We've been treating auto injury patients since 2015, and we can probably help you, too. Give our office a call today at (814) 308-9352 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.
Dr. Matt Reyes was born and raised in Apalachin, a small town in Upstate New York. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Fitness Development from the State University at New York College at Cortland. He then fulfilled his ambition to become a Doctor of Chiropractic when he graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 2013.
