What does this mean?
Most jaw pain is linked to using the jaw: it rises while chewing, while yawning or while opening the mouth wide, and eases with rest. Pain brought on by exertion does not fit that pattern. It starts while you are going up a slope or the stairs, walking quickly in the cold or carrying a load, at a moment when you are not using your jaw at all. It goes when you stop and wait a few minutes.
What sets it apart is that the trigger is bodily effort rather than chewing, and that it eases with rest. When the need of the heart muscle for blood cannot be met, the pain that results can travel out of the chest into the lower jaw, the neck, the left arm or the back. In some people there is no chest pain at all and the only symptom is jaw pain; this presentation is seen more often in women, in older people and in those living with diabetes.
There is a neighbour to this symptom that should not be confused with it: the jaw tiring while chewing and making you take a break. There the trigger is chewing itself, and muscle fatigue comes to mind; over the age of fifty there is also the possibility of inflammation affecting the artery at the temple, and that picture can threaten sight. The question that separates the two is simple: is it your jaw that starts the pain, or your walking?
Jaw pain that comes with exertion and goes with rest has an unusual side to it: the source may not be in the jaw. The first of the headings below is a possibility that should not be left to wait; the others are needed in order to make the distinction.
Likely causes
What helps at home?
- If the pain starts during exertion, do not carry on; stop, sit down and see whether the pain goes with rest
- Do not try to solve this pain with painkillers or with dental treatment; a procedure carried out before the cause is known only loses time
- Write down which effort brought the pain on, how many minutes it took to go, and whether sweating, breathlessness or nausea came with it
- Do not drive yourself alone to be assessed; if the pain returns during exertion, someone should be with you
- If pressure in the chest, breathlessness, cold sweating or nausea comes with the pain, call 112 without losing time
- If the pain does not go with rest and lasts longer than twenty minutes
- If the pain also spreads to your left arm, your neck or your back
- If the pain has started to come on with less effort and more often
- If you are over fifty and your jaw tires while chewing so that you have to take a break, with pain at the temple or blurred vision alongside it, you should be assessed the same day
Frequently asked questions
- Can jaw pain have anything to do with the heart?
- It can. A signal coming from the heart can also be felt outside the chest, in the lower jaw, the neck, the shoulder and the left arm; this is called referred pain. Jaw pain that appears only with exertion and goes with rest, with nothing found in the teeth or the jaw joint, brings this possibility to mind.
- Should I see a dentist first, or a heart specialist?
- If the pain starts during exertion and goes with rest, the heart assessment comes first. If chest pressure, breathlessness or cold sweating comes with it, you should go to an emergency department. Examining the teeth and the jaw joint takes its turn after that possibility has been ruled out; the two are not chased at the same time.
- Is a jaw that tires while chewing the same as a jaw that hurts on exertion?
- They are not the same. A jaw that tires while chewing and makes you take a break is to do with the blood flow of the chewing muscle itself, and over the age of fifty it can be the first sign of inflammation affecting the artery at the temple. Pain that comes on while walking has its source outside the jaw; these two go to different specialists.
This content is for general information and does not replace an in-person examination. Symptoms overlap between conditions, and a diagnosis can only be made clinically.