Do you wake up in the morning with either sore jaw muscles or a bad headache? In his Quick Tip Video, Dr. Chester Jeng, our dentist who works on a lien basis in La Habra, discusses why this could be happening to you and what you can do about it.
First, this could be due to an issue with your Temporomandibular Joint (or TMJ). Your TMJ is the joint that acts like a sliding hinge which connects your jawbone to your skull. TMJ disorders or dysfunctions can be caused by an injury, trauma, stress, or strain to the TMJ or to the Masseter Muscles. Grinding or tensing these muscles (or just an injury to them) can leave you waking up with not only jaw pain but also with headache pain.
So, if you wake up in the morning and are experiencing this pain, it’s important to get it looked at just in case. Dr. Jeng, DDS recommends seeing a general dentist, oral surgeon, or pain management doctor for either CT Scans or X-rays to look for an injury in this area. This is especially important if you have just been in an accident, as you could have injured your TMJ in the accident and not even realized it until after you’ve had trouble sleeping.
This pain could also be caused by sore muscles. If this is the case, your doctor, dentist, or surgeon may recommend muscle relaxants, heating pads, cooling pads, or a Botox injection in the area to relax your sore muscles.
It’s important to never ignore an injury, and that’s even more important if you’ve recently been in a car accident. Symptoms from injuries accumulated in an auto accident can show up weeks after the event, so be wary. And if you have been injured in an auto accident, be sure to find a doctor who works on a lien basis to help you heal.
