Every time you yawn or chew your food, do you experience an aching spasm in your lower jaw? If yes, then you could be having a problem in your temporomandibular joint. The temporomandibular joint, or what is commonly called TMJ, gets injured easily causing jaw pain. Here are 8 home remedies for jaw pain which will help you treat the issues in your TMJ.
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Suggested read: 8 Home Remedies That Can Give You Stronger Teeth In No Time
Jaw pain can be caused by a number of factors; it can be associated with an injury, it can be caused by dental issues, and even medical conditions like a heart attack can cause pain in the lower jaw. Lower jaw pain, though a serious condition, can be treated with easy and effective home remedies which we will be discussing with you in this post.
The jawbone is called the mandible. It, along with the maxilla bone, forms the TMJ, which is the jaw joint. It is because of this joint that we are able to open and close our mouths. Any kind of damage caused to this joint can result in jaw pain or the symptoms associated with jaw pain.
Causes of jaw pain
Let us examine the causes of jaw pain one at a time.
1. Dental problems
This is the most common cause behind jaw pain. This, in turn, can be caused by an infection, tooth cavity, broken teeth and abscesses. This is how an infection usually develops in the mouth: Due to lack of dental hygiene, your tooth starts decaying, and the hard enamel starts wearing down. This results in the formation of air pockets around the tooth. Whenever you eat something or drink something, particles are likely to get trapped in the air pockets, resulting in infection. This infection further, causes a dull ache to develop along the jawline which goes on to worsen into an excruciating ache.
You can also have jaw pain when a wisdom tooth starts appearing. This specially happens if the tooth has very little space to grow in. It gets impacted, and this causes severe jaw pain. The symptoms associated to jaw pain caused by dental problems are swelling, bleeding gums, pain in the gums, pain in the jawline swollen jaw and headache.
Pain in the lower jaw can also be caused by a broken tooth. The tooth causes pain along the gum-line, which in turn causes jaw pain. Abscess or the collection of puss around the tooth results in jaw pain too. The symptoms in this case are a visible red bump, pain in the jaw line etc.
2. Problems in the bone
A fractured jaw causes the most excruciating of pains. You can fracture your jawbone by an accident, or a fall, a physical assault or even while playing an adventure or contact sport. The jaw pain in this case has symptoms like pain associated with movement in jaw, bleeding and swelling of the jaw, sensitive to touch and also deformity of the face.
3. A heart condition
Jaw pain can be caused by medical conditions like angina pectoris or myocardial infarction. If suddenly you feel a pain in your left jaw pain it could be sign of a heart attack. You need to seek medical help immediately. The symptoms associated with jaw pain caused by heart conditions are dizziness and nausea pain in the left arm and left jaw, tendency to vomit, and excessive sweating.
4. Other causes
Even sinuses can cause jaw pain. Jaw pain can also be resulted by infections of the eats, swollen lymph nodes and damage in a facial nerve. People with arthritis can also have frequent jaw aches.
Signs and symptoms
According to Colgate, the signs and symptoms of jaw pain include,
“There are many signs and symptoms of jaw pain. It’s often hard to know for sure if you have jaw pain, because one or all of these symptoms can also be present for other problems. Your dentist can help make a proper diagnosis. Some of the most common jaw pain symptoms include:
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Pain in the face, jaw or ear area
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Headaches (often mimicking migraines), earaches, and pain and pressure behind the eyes
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A clicking or popping sound when opening or closing the mouth
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Jaw that “gets stuck,” locked or goes out of place
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Tenderness of the jaw muscles
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Swelling of the face”
Home remedies for jaw pain
Here are 8 natural treatments that will help you deal with jaw pain in no time.
1. Compresses
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Both hot and cold compresses help in alleviating the pain associated with jaw ache. In a towel, wrap a few cubes of ice and gently press the wrap against the affected jaw for about 10 minutes. It is important that you wrap the cubes in a towel and not apply it directly as it can cause numbness in the veins in the jaws.
Repeat as and when the pain returns.
If your pain is a numbing one, then you should use a heating pad and try and warm compress. You can also heat a cloth in a pain and lightly hold the warm cloth against the aching jaw for about 20 minutes. Repeat as and when needed.
2. Massage
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If the pain in your jaw is due to the stiffness along the jawline, then massage could do you some good. To massage, open your mouth and rub your fingers in light circular motions to massage the TMJ. Now close your mouth and massage the jawline in the same way. Keep massaging on the inside and the outside of your mouth. You can use clove oil for the massage. The oil will help strengthen your gums and teeth and will also treat infections, if any. In the end, gently massage the neck to release the tension that might have built up because of the pain in the jaw.
This should be repeated multiple times through the day for relief.
Suggested read: 10 Amazing Home Remedies For Receding Gums That Are Super Effective
3. Sit Straight
Improper posture can also cause jaw pain. And so, when you improve your posture: sit up straight (you can do it with back support), level your head with your chin in place, it will alleviate your jaw pain. People who spend most of their time in front of their computer on their desk, might complain of jaw pain. Also those who use their shoulder to cradle the phone while talking have the same complaint.
Always maintain posture to get relief from your jaw pain.
4. Mouth Guard
If you jaw pain gets aggravated while biting at something or eating, or when you clench your jaw while you are sleeping, then you need to use a mouth guard. You can get this designed by a dentist if you want, but these are readily available in sports stores. Buy the one that fits your mouth the best.
5. Improve your eating habits
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Avoid foods that are hard and require you to chew a lot. You will see that your issues with the lower jaw will improve in no time when you stop eating raw vegetables, meat and breadsticks. Also avoid fruits like sugarcane and even apple, if it hurts to chew. You can take these vegetables after boiling them or in the form of soups. You can also take soft foods like yogurt, pasta, juices and smoothies.
Also, take small bites to ease the pressure on your jaw.
6. Muscle Drink
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To ease the tension in the jaw, you need to relax the muscles around it. To do this, every day take a glass of orange juice, 500 mgs of powdered calcium (which will also strengthen your gums and teeth) and 250 mgs of powdered magnesium.
You will notice the pain to subside in not more than a week’s time.
7. Halt Yawns
The seventh remedy on our list is halt yawns. Most of us know that yawning is contagious, right? But nothing hurts more than a yawn when your jaws are aching. And so whenever you feel like you are about to yawn, open your mouth a little and cough a little or pretend like you are sneezing. The will lower the pain.
8. Rest Jaw
The last remedy on our list of natural treatments for jaw pain is giving the jaw ample rest to quickly recover. To lower the severity or the duration of the pain you feel along the jaw line, avoid chewing gum. The other things you can do to give your jaws some rest is sleep on your back and not on your stomach. Sleeping on one of your sides is also not an option. Take breaks from your work every 20 minutes and stretch yourself so that your posture does not get affected. Do not carry very heavy handbags or shoulder bags. Try to lighten your load.
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That is all we have on the home remedies for jaw pain. Do you think this post was helpful? Do you have some suggestions for us? Let us know in the comment section below.
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See you again tomorrow with a new set of remedies for a general medical condition.
Featured image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
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