Why It Can Take Days for Your Jaw to Hurt Following a Car Accident

Posted on 1/15/2020 by Rodney Rastegar

If you've been in a car accident lately, you know that in most cases, the pain is always worse on the second day. However, for some car accident victims, the pain is worse a few days after the accident, especially in their jaws.

Why does it take so long for your jaw to hurt? If your mouth is hurting, what can be done about it? In many cases, the culprit of jaw pain after an accident is temporomandibular joint disorder, or TMD. Not sure what that is? We have some answers for you.

What Happens to Your Jaw During a Car Accident?

The American Dental Association reported that over half of all incidents of TMJ are caused by trauma. In this case, trauma can be a blow to the jaw from a fist, but it can also be other kinds of trauma. One of the most common forms of TMJ is caused by injuries from a car accident.

When you are in the middle of a car accident, your body moves around in ways you don't normally move, which is why you ache so badly after a car accident. Your body gets pulled or pushed around and this movement can affect your entire body, including your joints.

Your temporomandibular joint may be affected for one of two reasons. First, you may have gotten hit directly in the jaw during the accident. You may smash your face against the car steering wheel. You might also be hit in the face from the airbag. Airbags deploy rapidly, and can cause injury on their own. However, over ? of TMJ with car accidents happen due to whiplash.

With whiplash, your head and neck are thrown around in a collision. Your muscles contract quickly to try and block the effects of the accident. Over the course of a few days, your head, neck and jaw may begin to ache severely from the effects of the car accident. If your jaw is hurting, and you've recently been in a car accident, give us a call. We can check out the causes of your jaw pain.

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