Part of TMJ disorder
TMJ or tooth pain: how to tell them apart, and who to see
Warning signs, and when to get help
Can TMJ cause tooth pain?
TMJ or tooth pain is a fair question, and before the comparison there is one thing that is not negotiable: a tooth that hurts gets examined by a dentist. Most pain inside a mouth is dental. A dentist can look and x-ray in one appointment, and no website can do that at a distance, this one included. If you take one thing away from all of it, take that.
Now the comparison, which is worth doing properly. Being told that the two are hard to tell apart leaves you no further forward on who to call.
Here is what the two main national sources actually list. The NHS symptom list for temporomandibular disorder, the clinical name for the jaw problem, is pain around the jaw, ear and temple, clicking, popping or grinding noises, a headache around the temples, difficulty opening the mouth fully, and a jaw that locks. Tooth pain is not on it. The US National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research lists pain in the chewing muscles or jaw joint, pain spreading to the face or neck, jaw stiffness, limited movement or locking, painful clicking, popping or grating, ringing in the ears, hearing loss or dizziness, and a change in the way the upper and lower teeth fit together. Tooth pain is not on that one either.
So on the two lists that matter, a hurting tooth is not a symptom of a jaw problem. That is a more useful starting point than it sounds.
What is documented is referred pain. In a study of 230 people with temporomandibular disorder, an examiner pressed firmly for about five seconds on trigger points, tender spots and chewing structures in the head and neck, and asked whether pain was developing or intensifying somewhere else. Of them, 196, which is 85 percent, said yes. The cheek, the ear and the forehead were the sites reported most often, and the trapezius, the lateral pterygoid area and the masseter were the most common sources (Wright 2000). The abstract gives no figure for pain referred into the teeth, so we are not going to invent one.
A narrative review written for root canal specialists takes it closer to the tooth. It states that masticatory myofascial pain syndrome can present similarly to other dental conditions, lists the eyebrows, ears, jaw joints, maxillary sinus, tongue and hard palate among the places it refers pain, and says specialists need to recognize it in order to avoid misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment and the legal consequences of both (Elbarbary and colleagues, 2022).
The third route is the most concrete of all, and it runs the other way. Grinding and clenching damage teeth. The NHS lists worn-down or broken teeth, which can cause increased sensitivity and loss of teeth and fillings, among the effects of teeth grinding, along with a painful jaw that can lead to temporomandibular disorder, headaches, earache and disturbed sleep. It then asks you to see a dentist if you grind your teeth and have tooth damage or sensitive teeth. So a jaw habit can give you a genuine tooth problem, and the answer to that tooth problem is dental.
TMJ tooth pain or a cavity: what tells them apart
Nothing you can do at a kitchen table settles this. What you can do is see which signs sit on which list, and work out which appointment to make first.
On the NHS list of causes of toothache: tooth decay, a dental abscess, a cracked or damaged tooth, a loose or broken filling, infection such as a wisdom tooth that has broken through the gum without room to come through fully, problems with braces, and gum disease. Grinding is on the same list. Sensitive teeth are named separately as a cause of tooth pain.
On the NHS list of reasons to see a dentist about toothache: toothache lasting more than 2 days, pain that painkillers do not settle, a high temperature, pain when biting, red gums, a bad taste in your mouth, and a swollen cheek or jaw. Note how many of those get put down to a jaw problem instead.
On the NHS list for the jaw: clicking, popping or grinding noises when you move your jaw, difficulty opening your mouth fully, a jaw that locks, and pain around the jaw, ear and temple. No tooth makes a clicking joint.
A few differences we use in clinic. They are clinical pattern rather than published discriminators.
Pain you can cover with one fingertip, in one spot, is more often a tooth. Pain you have to draw with the flat of your hand, over the cheek and up to the temple, behaves more like a muscle.
Hot and cold matter. Sensitivity to hot or cold food and drink in one area is on the NHS abscess symptom list and is a classic dental pattern. A chewing muscle does not care about the temperature of your coffee.
Pressing it is informative. If firm pressure on the muscle at your temple or over your cheek reproduces the pain you have been calling toothache, that is the kind of referred pain the study above measured. If pressure there does nothing and tapping or biting on the tooth does, the tooth is the lead. One exception, because this is the one place where pressing can mislead you: do not file new tenderness at the temple or on the scalp as a muscle.
New frequent headaches with pain or tenderness there are on the warning list below for advice the same day, and so are two things in anyone of 50 or over: new jaw aching that comes on as you chew or talk, and a scalp or temple that has turned tender to ordinary touch, brushing your hair or lying on a pillow. That pattern can be inflamed arteries in the head, which is a different problem from a tender chewing muscle.
A sore joint has a location. Right in front of the ear, tender to touch, often with noise on opening. People reliably point to it.
None of these is a test. Hold them loosely, and let the dental examination do the deciding.
Pain in one tooth, or across several?
This is the most useful split you can make at home.
One tooth, consistently the same tooth, with sharp pain, temperature sensitivity, a bad taste, a swollen gum or a temperature, is a dental presentation on the NHS lists. An abscess, a cracked tooth and a loose or broken filling are all single-tooth problems. An abscess in particular does not improve with time: the NHS says it will not go away on its own and needs urgent treatment by a dentist. That has its own line on the warning list at the foot of this page.
Several teeth at once on one side, or upper and lower teeth together, with nothing a dentist can find wrong with any of them, is where the muscle picture becomes more plausible. That is the presentation the root canal review is warning its own specialty about, because teeth get treated when a muscle was the source.
And the honest limit on all of it: the review that makes that warning also says the diagnostic side is weak. It calls the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders the most widely accepted guidelines for this muscle pain syndrome while noting that their diagnostic capability for it is limited, reports no consensus on how to diagnose trigger points or quantify the pain, and says the diagnostic aids are not well developed (Elbarbary and colleagues, 2022). Specialists with the patient in front of them find this hard. Somebody at home with a mirror cannot do it at all.
Tooth pain when you bite down or chew
The usual answer to this one is the wrong way round.
Pain when you bite is on the NHS list of reasons to see a dentist about toothache. It is not evidence that your jaw is the problem. A cracked tooth, a loose or broken filling and an abscess can each hurt when you bite on them, and a crack can be hard to see without an x-ray. If biting on one tooth reproduces it, book the dentist.
Chewing is the less specific of the two. The NHS says jaw pain in temporomandibular disorder is often worse when you chew, and a tender chewing muscle hurts when it works, like any overused muscle. So chewing pain sits in both camps. What helps separate them is where it is felt, whether it needs a particular tooth or any tooth, and whether the joint in front of your ear joins in.
Opening wide is the one that leans toward the jaw. A yawn, a big sandwich or a dental appointment that holds your mouth open, with pain in front of the ear and sometimes a click or a catch, is joint behavior. Teeth do not mind how wide your mouth is.
One loop is worth naming, because it is how this problem compounds. Pain on one side makes you chew on the other, the other side then does all the work, and within a few weeks you have a sore joint or a sore chewing muscle on a side that started out fine. Cut food smaller and share it out, rather than forcing yourself back onto the painful side. The main TMJ program and TMJ flare ups both go into that habit, the flare-up page at length.
If opening is the problem rather than the pain, or if the jaw catches partway, when your jaw locks or catches is the page for that, and it comes before any jaw exercise.
What a dentist checks first
Knowing what happens at the appointment makes it easier to go, and it tells you whether the answer you came away with was a real one.
A dentist is looking for the things on the NHS causes list: decay, a crack, a failed filling, gum disease, an abscess, and a wisdom tooth coming through without room. That usually means looking, tapping, testing with cold, checking how your teeth meet, and an x-ray, because a crack and an abscess at the root are both things that hide.
Two routing facts the NHS states plainly, and repeats on both its toothache and its dental abscess pages: do not go to a doctor's surgery for a tooth, because it cannot give you dental treatment, and a dental abscess needs urgent treatment from a dentist. If your own dentist is closed, its answerphone usually says what to do, and an urgent or out-of-hours dental service is the route rather than a general doctor.
The ear overlap matters at this appointment, because it is what sends people to the wrong clinician. The NHS earache page pairs ear pain with toothache and names a dental abscess as a cause, so an earache that arrived with a sore tooth is a dental question first. TMJ, tinnitus and ear fullness covers the ear symptoms that come with a jaw problem and who checks them.
The one thing to be clear about at a dental appointment for jaw pain is what you do not want. The 2023 BMJ clinical practice guideline for jaw pain lasting 3 months or more made a strong recommendation against irreversible oral splints, the kind that permanently change your bite, because the benefit was uncertain and serious harm was possible, and a conditional recommendation against removable splints, because the evidence did not show a clear benefit for pain (Busse and colleagues, 2023). The NIDCR advises against treatments that permanently change the jaw joints, teeth or bite, and says occlusal treatments such as crowns, grinding teeth down or orthodontics to move teeth lack evidence and may make the problem worse. Treating a cracked tooth is dentistry. Rebuilding your bite to cure jaw pain is not supported, and it cannot be undone.
When the teeth are fine and the pain is not
This is where a lot of people arrive: dentist seen, x-rays clear, nothing to treat, pain still there. It is a frustrating appointment and it is also a useful result, because it has ruled something out.
What it usually means is that the chewing muscles or the jaw joint are the source. The NIDCR describes temporomandibular disorders as a group of more than 30 conditions, split into joint disorders, chewing muscle disorders and related headaches, and the muscle group is the one that refers pain around the face. The NHS says the condition is not usually serious and often gets better on its own, with self-care first: soft food, teeth apart when you are not eating, a warm or cold pack, simple painkillers and ways to wind down.
Two cautions come with that list. Do not use heat on skin that has lost feeling or cannot feel heat properly, because it can scald or burn without you noticing, which matters here because a numb or dead-feeling face, lip, tongue or chin is one of the warning signs on this page. And a pharmacist can tell you which painkiller suits you alongside anything else you take, so ask there rather than guessing, never stop or change a prescribed medicine on your own, and if you are pregnant or breastfeeding ask your midwife, doctor or pharmacist first.
Some signs point at the joint rather than the muscles, and they change what happens next. A tender spot right in front of the ear with clicking, catching or a jaw that will not open fully is joint behavior, and a jaw that locks gets examined in person before anybody starts exercises. A duller ache over the temple and cheek that spreads and feels like a tired muscle is the muscle group.
For pain that has lasted 3 months or more, the 2023 guideline strongly recommends supervised jaw exercise and stretching, therapist-assisted mobilization, manual trigger point therapy, supervised posture exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy, with usual care such as home exercise, stretching, reassurance and education (Busse and colleagues, 2023). Supervised is the word doing the work there, which is why this program keeps the jaw movements small and sends anybody with a joint sign to be looked at first.
If headaches rather than the teeth are the main problem, tension-type headache is the better page, and if the neck is sore too, can TMJ cause neck pain and the neck pain program cover that pairing.
The jaw work for after the teeth have been checked
These are the relaxation and jaw movements from the TMJ program, and they are for a jaw problem rather than a tooth problem, so they come after a dental examination rather than instead of one. As a starting guide, many programs use 3 to 5 facial relaxation squeezes once or twice a day or whenever you notice tension, 5 to 10 slow breaths or a few minutes of diaphragmatic breathing 1 to 3 times a day, and 5 to 10 slow jaw openings held for a few seconds a few times a day. Your physio will adjust this, and each exercise page carries its own dose and cautions. Do the facial relaxation with your teeth slightly apart, squeezing only around your eyes and cheeks and never the jaw. Keep the opening small: open only as far as your tongue allows and only while it stays pain free, and stop if your jaw catches, locks or clicks painfully. If your jaw clicks painfully, catches, will not open fully or has ever locked, have it checked in person before you start any of this. If your jaw has ever got stuck open, check with your dentist or physio before you start. If your jaw was dislocated or stuck open in the last 6 weeks, do not start this on your own. MedlinePlus says that after dislocating your jaw you should not open your mouth widely for at least 6 weeks. Those 6 weeks are a minimum rather than a finish line, and nothing changes by itself on the day they end, so ask the team who treated your jaw first and follow what they say. After jaw surgery or a broken jaw, check with your surgeon before you start, and follow their plan. Ask your dentist first if you have a loose tooth, a broken tooth, fresh dental work or a crown on the painful side. Breathe steadily through every hold and never hold your breath, which matters most if you have high blood pressure. If you have a lung condition such as COPD, or a heart condition, ask your physio or doctor how breathing exercises fit your own plan. After eye surgery, such as a cataract operation, ask your eye team before you squeeze your eyes shut in the facial relaxation, and if your face is weak after a stroke, ask your stroke team before you start.
Facial muscle relaxation
Diaphragmatic breathing
Jaw opening with the tongue on the roof of the mouthKeep your teeth apart through all of these. That is the point of the exercises rather than a detail. And stop any jaw movement that brings on tooth pain rather than working through it.
When to get checked
See a dentist about a tooth. The NHS threshold is toothache lasting more than 2 days, pain that painkillers do not settle, pain when biting, red gums, a bad taste in your mouth, a high temperature, or a swollen cheek or jaw. An abscess goes to a dentist urgently, and not to a doctor.
See a dentist, doctor, physio or physical therapist about the jaw if the jaw pain is not settling with self-care, if it keeps coming back, or if you think you grind your teeth. Bring both halves to whichever appointment comes first: which tooth, or which teeth, and what the joint and the chewing muscles are doing. The person examining you cannot see which came first, and you can.
Some things do not wait for either appointment. A swollen face or jaw with difficulty breathing, speaking, swallowing or opening your mouth, a lot of swelling in your mouth, or a swollen neck or swelling around an eye, is a spreading infection and goes to emergency services. Jaw pain with chest pain, or jaw pain brought on by effort and eased by rest, is a cardiac pattern and goes the same way.
New frequent headaches with tenderness at the temples or on the scalp, or new jaw aching on chewing if you are 50 or over, need advice the same day. A mouth ulcer lasting more than 3 weeks, a lump, or a red or white patch in the mouth needs checking within a few days. Every line on the list below carries its own timeframe, and red flags in physiotherapy explains how to read it.
Related exercise programs
Warning signs
Get emergency help now
- Emergency: you think you have a tooth infection, or your face or jaw is swollen, and you find it hard to breathe, speak, swallow or open your mouth, have a lot of swelling in your mouth, have swelling of your neck or around your eye, or have a swollen or painful eye or sudden problems with your eyesight. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. This can be a spreading infection, for example from a tooth abscess.
- Emergency: any sign of a stroke, even if it goes away. That means a face that droops on one side, an arm you cannot lift or keep up, slurred or muddled speech, weakness or numbness on one side of your body or face, sudden blurred vision, double vision or loss of sight, trouble swallowing, sudden dizziness with unsteadiness or falling over, a sudden severe headache, or a sudden fall where your legs give way but you do not black out (a drop attack). Call emergency services straight away. With neck pain, these can rarely come from a tear in an artery in the neck.
- Emergency: neck, jaw or arm pain that comes with chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating or feeling sick. Call emergency services.
- Emergency: jaw, neck, shoulder or arm pain that comes on when you exert yourself, feel stressed or go out in the cold, and does not ease within a few minutes of rest, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, feeling light-headed or being short of breath. Call emergency services straight away, as this can be a heart attack. If it eases quickly with rest and none of these happen, get medical advice the same day, and do not exercise again until you have been checked. Jaw pain that comes with effort and goes with rest can be a sign of angina, a heart problem, rather than TMD.
- Emergency: your mouth is stuck open and you cannot close it, for example after a big yawn, or after a blow to your face your jaw looks out of place, your teeth no longer meet as they did or you cannot bite together. Go to an emergency department straight away, supporting your jaw gently with your hand, and do not drive yourself. Call emergency services if you also find it hard to breathe or are bleeding heavily.
- Emergency: your jaw locked, you cannot open or close your mouth properly, part of your lower lip, chin or jaw feels numb, a tooth is loose or broken or your gum or mouth is bleeding, your jaw swings to one side as it opens, or your cheek or jaw has a lump or a changed shape, after a blow to the face, a fall, a sports injury or any other accident, even if your teeth still meet as they did. Go to an emergency department straight away, supporting your jaw gently with your hand, and do not drive yourself. Call emergency services if you also find it hard to breathe, are bleeding heavily or your face is swelling quickly. A jaw can be broken without looking out of place, and jaw stiffness, trouble opening your mouth widely, pain in front of your ear that is worse when you bite or chew, or a numb lower lip can be the main sign.
- Emergency: a new headache, or new pain on one side of your face, jaw or neck, with a drooping eyelid or a smaller pupil on the same side, or with a new pulsing or whooshing sound in one ear that keeps time with your heartbeat. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. This can be a tear in an artery in the neck (cervical artery dissection), which can lead to a stroke.
- Emergency: a headache or face pain with sudden, intense eye pain, a red eye, blurred vision or rainbow-colored rings around lights, often with feeling or being sick. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not drive yourself. This can be a sudden rise in pressure inside the eye (acute glaucoma).
- Emergency: new problems walking, for example your legs feel stiff, heavy or weak or you have become unsteady on your feet, new trouble controlling your bladder or bowels, or hands that suddenly become clumsy, for example you can no longer do up buttons. Call emergency services straight away. These can be signs of pressure on the spinal cord in the neck.
Get help today
- Same day: intense toothache or pain in your gums, redness inside your mouth or on your face or jaw, sensitivity to hot or cold food and drink in that area, a bad taste in your mouth, difficulty opening your mouth and chewing, a swollen face or jaw, swollen glands on each side of your neck, or a high temperature, without any of the emergency signs above. Ask a dentist for an urgent appointment the same day, and if you cannot get one, contact an urgent or out-of-hours dental service. Do not go to a doctor's surgery instead, because it cannot give you dental treatment. A dental abscess will not go away on its own and needs urgent treatment by a dentist.
- Jaw or face pain with a high temperature, a swollen face or gum, or you feel hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell, without any of the emergency signs above. Get medical advice the same day. If you think a tooth is the cause, contact a dentist for an urgent appointment.
- New, frequent headaches with pain or tenderness at your temples or on your scalp, or, if you are 50 or over, new jaw pain or aching that comes on as you chew or talk and eases when you stop, or a temple or scalp that has become tender to touch, for example when you brush your hair or rest your head on a pillow. Get medical advice the same day. These can be signs of inflamed arteries in the head (temporal arteritis, also called giant cell arteritis). If your vision changes, call emergency services.
- Your jaw suddenly locks so you cannot open your mouth fully, or the pain or stiffness stops you eating or drinking, without any of the emergency signs above. Get medical advice the same day from your doctor or dentist.
- Frequent, severe headaches alongside your jaw problem, without any of the emergency signs above. Get medical advice the same day.
- Dizziness, a spinning feeling or feeling sick that comes on when you turn or tip your head, without any of the emergency signs above. Stop the exercises and get medical advice the same day. If you faint, it does not settle within a few minutes of sitting still, or you cannot stand or walk steadily, call emergency services.
- Numbness, tingling or a dead feeling in part of your face, lips, tongue or chin, or weakness in the muscles of your face, that has come on gradually, without any of the emergency signs above. Get medical advice the same day. Changes like these point to a nerve problem rather than TMD and need checking.
- Swollen glands in your neck and you are finding it very difficult to swallow, without any of the emergency signs above. Get medical advice the same day. If you have any difficulty breathing, call emergency services straight away.
- New jaw or face pain and you have had cancer, now or in the past, or you have lost weight without trying. Get medical advice the same day and mention it. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
- Jaw or face pain that is there all the time and does not ease with rest, or pain at night that keeps getting worse. If you have had cancer, now or in the past, or you have lost weight without trying, get medical advice the same day.
Book an appointment
- Toothache that has lasted more than 2 days, toothache that does not go away with painkillers, pain when you bite, red gums, a bad taste in your mouth, or a swollen cheek or jaw, without any of the signs above. See a dentist within a day or two, and ask for an urgent appointment the same day if the pain is severe or getting worse. Do not go to a doctor instead, because a doctor's surgery cannot give you dental treatment.
- Swollen glands in your neck that are getting bigger, have not gone down within a week, feel hard or do not move when you press them, come with night sweats or a high temperature, come with no other sign of illness or infection, or sit just above or below your collarbone, without any of the emergency signs above. See your doctor within a few days.
- Jaw or face pain that is there all the time and does not ease with rest, or pain at night that keeps getting worse. See your doctor within a few days.
- A mouth ulcer that has lasted more than 3 weeks, a lump in your mouth, on your lip, in your neck or in your throat, a red or white patch in your mouth, pain in your mouth that is not going away, difficulty swallowing or speaking, or a hoarse voice that does not go away. See your doctor or dentist within a few days. These are usually caused by something else, but they need checking for mouth cancer.
Common questions
Can TMJ cause tooth pain?
It can produce pain that is felt in or around a tooth, and it cannot be the reason you skip a dental examination. Tooth pain is not on the NHS symptom list for temporomandibular disorders, and it is not on the NIDCR list either. What is documented is referred pain: in 230 people with temporomandibular disorder, 85 percent reported pain appearing elsewhere when a muscle was pressed, most often in the cheek, ear and forehead (Wright 2000), and a review written for root canal specialists says masticatory myofascial pain syndrome can present similarly to other dental conditions (Elbarbary and colleagues, 2022). Grinding is the third route and it is dental: the NHS links teeth grinding to worn-down or broken teeth, which can cause increased sensitivity.
Is it TMJ or a cavity?
A dentist settles that, usually in one appointment with an examination and often an x-ray. What is worth knowing is which signs are on which list. Tooth decay, a cracked or damaged tooth, a loose or broken filling, gum disease, an abscess and sensitive teeth are all on the NHS list of causes of toothache. Pain when biting, red gums, a bad taste in your mouth, a swollen cheek or jaw, a high temperature, or toothache lasting more than 2 days are all on its list of reasons to see a dentist. Clicking, popping or grinding noises in the joint, a jaw that will not open fully and a jaw that locks are on the NHS list for the jaw, and no tooth produces them.
Can TMJ cause tooth pain when biting down or chewing?
This is the question where the usual answer is back to front. Pain when biting is on the NHS list of reasons to see a dentist about toothache, so it points toward a tooth rather than away from it. A cracked tooth, a loose or broken filling and an abscess can all hurt on biting. Chewing is less specific, because the NHS does say jaw pain is often worse when you chew, and a tender chewing muscle hurts when it works. The pattern that is more jaw than tooth is pain that spreads over the cheek and temple and feels like a tired muscle, rather than a sharp pain you can put a fingertip on.
Can TMJ cause pain in one tooth?
Pain in a single tooth is more often a tooth, and the sources support taking that seriously. A dental abscess, a cracked tooth and a loose or broken filling are all single-tooth problems on the NHS list, and an abscess needs urgent dental treatment because it will not go away on its own. Referred muscle pain tends to spread rather than sit in one spot. A review written for root canal specialists lists the eyebrows, ears, jaw joints, maxillary sinus, tongue and hard palate among the places chewing muscle pain is referred to, says it can present like other dental conditions, and tells its own specialty to recognize it so that misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment are avoided (Elbarbary and colleagues, 2022). Neither pattern is reliable enough to act on alone, which is why the tooth gets examined.
Can TMJ cause cavities?
We have found nothing saying that a jaw joint problem causes tooth decay. The NHS lists tooth decay as its own cause of toothache, separately from grinding. What grinding does do, on the NHS's account, is wear down or break teeth, which can cause increased sensitivity and loss of teeth and fillings, and that is damage a dentist can see and treat. If you grind or clench and your teeth have become sensitive, that is a dental appointment rather than a jaw exercise.
Should I have my bite adjusted for TMJ?
Not on current guidance, and this is the one thing worth refusing. The 2023 BMJ clinical practice guideline for jaw pain lasting 3 months or more made a strong recommendation against irreversible oral splints, which are the ones that permanently change your bite, because the benefit was uncertain and serious harm was possible, and a conditional recommendation against removable splints (Busse and colleagues, 2023). The NIDCR advises avoiding treatments that permanently change the jaw joints, teeth or bite, and says occlusal treatments such as crowns, grinding teeth down or orthodontics to move teeth lack evidence and may make the problem worse. A night guard to protect teeth from grinding damage is a different conversation, and one to have with your dentist.
References
- NHS. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Page last reviewed 20 June 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/temporomandibular-disorder-tmd/
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Temporomandibular disorders (TMD). https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/tmd
- NHS. Toothache. Page last reviewed 1 July 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/toothache/
- NHS. Dental abscess. Page last reviewed 18 March 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dental-abscess/
- NHS. Teeth grinding (bruxism). Page last reviewed 8 April 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/teeth-grinding/
- NHS. Earache. Page last reviewed 27 October 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/earache/
- Wright EF. Referred craniofacial pain patterns in patients with temporomandibular disorder. Journal of the American Dental Association. 2000;131(9):1307-1315. https://doi.org/10.14219/jada.archive.2000.0384
- Elbarbary M, Oren A, Goldberg M, Freeman BV, Mock D, Tenenbaum HC, et al. Masticatory myofascial pain syndrome: implications for endodontists. Journal of Endodontics. 2022;48(1):55-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joen.2021.10.004
- Busse JW, Casassus R, Carrasco-Labra A, Durham J, Mock D, Zakrzewska JM, et al. Management of chronic pain associated with temporomandibular disorders: a clinical practice guideline. BMJ. 2023;383:e076227. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-076227
- Schiffman E, Ohrbach R, Truelove E, Look J, Anderson G, Goulet JP, et al. Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD) for clinical and research applications. Journal of Oral and Facial Pain and Headache. 2014;28(1):6-27. https://doi.org/10.11607/jop.1151
- NHS. Temporal arteritis. Page last reviewed 14 August 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/temporal-arteritis/
- NHS. Angina. Page last reviewed 18 March 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/angina/
- NHS. Mouth cancer: symptoms. Page last reviewed 19 June 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mouth-cancer/symptoms/
- NHS. Swollen glands. Page last reviewed 29 September 2023. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/swollen-glands/
- NHS. Glaucoma. Page last reviewed 13 June 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/glaucoma/
- NHS. Stroke: symptoms. Page last reviewed 12 September 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stroke/symptoms/
- MedlinePlus. Broken or dislocated jaw. US National Library of Medicine. Review date 3 April 2025. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000019.htm
Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-10-23.
This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.