Cary TMJ Pain and Auto Injury

Jaw or TMJ pain is a fairly common condition reported by people after a car crash, and it can be hard for some doctors to diagnose the cause of the problem. Complicating the issue, many times you won't develop TMJ symptoms until many weeks or months after the incident.

Dr. Gugerli has helped many individuals with jaw pain after an injury, and the scientific literature explains what triggers these types of symptoms. During a collision, the tissues in your neck are often stretched or torn, causing ligament, muscle, or nerve injury. This can clearly cause pain in the neck and back, but since your central nervous system is one functioning unit, irritation of the nerves can cause pain in other parts of your body.

For instance, 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 collision are very common because of neck injury, and the TMJ works the same way. Dr. Gugerli sees this very often in our Cary office.

Research Proves Chiropractic Lessens TMJ Pain After an Auto Injury

Studies have shown that the source of many jaw or TMJ symptoms starts in the neck and that treatment of the underlying neck injury can resolve the secondary headaches or jaw symptoms. The trick to resolving these symptoms is simple: Dr. Gugerli will work to restore your spinal column back to health, relieving the inflammatory reaction, treating the injured areas, and eliminating the irritation to the nerves in your spine.

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

If you reside in Cary and you've been injured in a car crash, Dr. Gugerli can help. We've been working with auto injury patients since 1995, and we can most likely help you, too. Give our office a call today at (919) 589-0909 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.