Jaw Pain Causes - Don't Miss These Facts on Causes and Symptoms

TMJ stands for Temporomandibular Joint. It establishes the connection between the lower jaw in one's mouth with the temporal bone in the skull. However, this joint has adequate flexibility which allows the individual to open or close mouth up and down, as well as sideways.

Even eating can be a cause of jaw pain. Chewing tough vegetables or a tough steak or thick sandwiches can stress your jaw joints.

We all know the significance of opening and closing our mouth on a daily basis. You eat, talk and drink through our mouth. Due to TMJ pain if the opening and closing of the mouth is compromised even slightly you feel the brunt of it. Since this joint is located extremely close to the ears, any pain caused to the former will have repercussions on the latter.

Symptoms of TMJ Trouble:

Pain when you talk, yawn or chew

Ringing of the ears

Clicking or locking sounds while opening or closing the mouth

An abnormal position of the mouth while biting or chewing food can be symptoms of TMJ disorder.

Headaches or neck pain

Stiffness in the jaws

Inability to open your mouth wide

Inability to open your mouth more than a couple inches

Consider the following when you are trying to pinpoint why this pain is going on.

Causes Of Jaw Pain And Trouble:

There are several points that can be made about jaw pain cause-

Sudden clenching of the jaws out of anger or eating something can cause such pain. This is mainly because the clenching action puts unnecessary pressure on the flexible and soft joint and creates tight muscles of the face, jaw and neck.

Arthritis can affect any joint. You may need to go to a medical doctor to rule out arthritis of the jaw joint.

Sleeping on your tummy pushes the head to one side and can cause tight muscles and pressure on the jaw.

Sometimes the ball and socket keeping the joint in place may slip off from their normal positions causing the jaw to open and/or close imperfectly.

Chewing gum - if your jaw ball and socket are not correctly placed, chewing gum is going to put a continuous strain on your jaw joint and muscles. Avoid chewing gum if you are having jaw problems.

Sometimes when you eat things like a jawbreaker or stick-jaw candies it can cause the jaws to open or close improperly or put a lot of strain on the TMJ causing lock-jaw. Our instant reaction is to pull our jaw open which can cause further damage to the TMJ.