Could Unexplained Headaches Come from the Jaw?

Key points in 30 seconds

1. The muscles that move the jaw attach at the temples.
2. When those muscles stiffen, that area is felt as head pain.
3. If it hurts in the morning, you may have been clenching your teeth in your sleep.
4. Normally, your upper and lower teeth shouldn't be touching.
5. If a sudden severe headache comes on or you lose strength, go to the emergency room right away.

What we often hear

• "I take headache pills, but they only help for a while."
• "My head hurts, but my tests say nothing is wrong."
• "My jaw feels stiff in the morning, and I wonder if I grind my teeth."

Could unexplained headaches come from the jaw?

They can. The muscles that move the jaw attach widely across the temples and cheeks, so when those muscles stiffen, that area is felt directly as head pain.

Many people have been told their tests showed nothing. In those cases, one of the places we look is the jaw. A brain scan doesn't show stiff muscles.

What is a headache from the jaw like?

A tight, achy feeling around the temples is common. Often it already hurts when you wake up, or it gets worse as the afternoon goes on.

People whose headaches come in the morning may have been clenching their teeth during sleep. Most don't realize it. If your jaw feels stiff in the morning or there are tooth marks on the inside of your cheeks, that's a clue.

People whose headaches get worse in the afternoon are often unconsciously clenching during the day. Check once whether your upper and lower teeth are touching when you're concentrating or tense. Normally, your teeth shouldn't be touching each other.

What do you check?

We press on the muscles of the temples and cheeks by hand. If pressing spreads pain to the spot that usually hurts, that muscle is involved.

We also look at how wide your mouth opens and whether it swings to one side as it opens. We check the angle of the neck and the height of the shoulders too. It's much more common for the neck to be stiff as well than for only the jaw to be stiff.

Are all headaches caused by the jaw?

No. Headaches have many more causes, and the jaw is just one of them. It's something to look at after other causes have been ruled out.

Migraines are different in nature. They throb on one side, light and sound are bothersome, you feel nauseous, and moving makes it worse. If it's like this, migraine should be looked at before the jaw.

What are the limits of this judgment?

We don't have numbers on how much headaches decrease when the jaw is treated. What's written here is a pattern we've seen in the clinic.

We must tell you this. If a severe headache unlike anything you've ever had comes on suddenly, or you have a fever with a stiff neck, your arms or legs lose strength, your speech is slurred, or you're not fully alert, go to the emergency room right away. If the pattern of your headaches has changed recently or they're getting steadily worse, imaging comes first.

We start by pinpointing where the headache is coming from. The muscles used by the jaw extend up to the temples, so quite a few headaches start in the jaw.

If your headaches keep coming back even with medication, come see us. We don't look only at the head; we follow it through to the jaw and neck.

Headaches have many causes, so even with the same treatment, results differ from person to person.