Jaw pain is a fairly typical problem reported by people after a car wreck, and it can be tough for some physicians to find the root of the problem. Complicating the issue, many times you won't develop TMJ pain until many weeks or months after the original injury.
Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes has helped many men and women with jaw pain after an injury, and the medical literature explains what produces 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 clearly cause pain in the neck and back, but since your nervous system is one functioning unit, inflammation of the nerves can cause issues in other parts of your body.
For instance, with radicular pain, irritation of a nerve can cause tingling or numbness in the arm or 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 TMJ works the same way. Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes sees this very frequently in our State College, PA office.
Studies have shown that the root of many jaw or TMJ problems begins in the cervical spine and that treatment of the underlying neck problem can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The trick to resolving these symptoms is simple: Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes will work to return your spinal column back to health, relieving the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured tissues, 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 live in State College, PA and you've been injured 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.
