What does this mean?
The chewing muscles are muscles that generate force. If they stay contracted for a long time, the blood flow inside them is disturbed, waste products build up and the muscle fibres become over-sensitive to stimulation. A muscle like this can ache even when you are doing nothing, and when you press on it the pain becomes clearer.
The distinguishing point is where the pain wakes up. If you put your finger just in front of your ear canal, open your mouth and the pain gathers there, the source may be the joint. If the pain comes when you press on the cheek muscle below your cheekbone or on your temple, and it is the same pain you have been describing for days, muscle-related pain is more likely.
Muscle pain is often dull, has no clear border and spreads to a tooth, to the ear or to the temple. That is why a healthy tooth can end up being blamed. In muscle-related pain, cold applied to the tooth does not produce a sharp reaction; the pain changes more with pressure and with chewing.
There is no single answer to why the muscle stays contracted; clenching at night, resting the teeth together during the day without noticing, broken sleep and the neck muscles often contribute to the same picture together.
Likely causes
What helps at home?
- Eat soft food for a while; chewing gum, hard bread crusts and large mouthfuls tire the muscle all over again.
- During the day, keep the tip of your tongue on your palate and your teeth apart; make short checks that remind you your jaw is at rest.
- Ten minutes of warmth on the painful muscle may bring relief, but do not apply heat if there is swelling, redness or fever.
- Do not try to force your jaw open, to stretch it or to put it back in place; these can make the picture worse.
- Fever, or swelling in your face or under your jaw, added to the pain
- Not being able to open your mouth two fingers wide
- If you are over 50, new pain in the temple, tenderness to touch or a change in your vision
- Pain increasing quickly on one side and breaking your sleep
- Numbness in the lip or the face that goes with jaw movement
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from a jaw joint problem?
- What brings muscle-related pain back is pressure applied to the muscle, and the pain is felt over a broad, dull area. Joint-related pain tends to be more pinpoint in front of the ear, and a noise or a feeling of catching often goes with it. The two can also occur together; telling them apart is done by examination.
- Will taking painkillers be enough on its own?
- A painkiller may reduce the complaint for a while, but it does not change why the muscle stays contracted. If the clenching habit, the sleep pattern and your bite are not assessed, the pain can be expected to come back. Any use of medication should be decided together with your dentist.
- Could what I think is toothache actually be muscle pain?
- It could. Because pain in the chewing muscles can spread to the upper and lower back teeth, a healthy tooth may come under suspicion. If pain continues in a tooth that shows nothing on the X-ray and nothing on the cold test, the muscles need to be assessed as well. Treatment carried out before that assessment may not take the pain away.
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.