When you think of pain associated with wisdom teeth, you probably think of pain in your mouth or a sore jaw. While pain in your mouth and jaw can be a sign of wisdom teeth eruption, there’s more to it. Headaches, shoulder pain and neck pain can all be caused by your wisdom teeth.
Surprised?
In one of our previous blogs, we discussed how your teeth can cause neck pain. In this article, we will take a deep dive into how your wisdom teeth can be a sneaky source of your neck pain and what you can do to relieve it.
How Can Wisdom Teeth Cause Neck Pain?
Wisdom teeth, also known as your third molars, are the last teeth to emerge in your mouth — typically making their grand entrance in your late teens or early twenties. (If you are past that age and you still haven’t gotten yours, you’re either very lucky they didn’t cause any problems, they are fashionably late or you are skipping the whole thing altogether).
Located towards the back of your mouth, wisdom teeth have garnered quite a bad reputation. Why? Because most of the time, they emerge with a bang — not in an exciting way, but rather a dreaded way.
For most people, wisdom teeth can cause pain and a whole lot of other problems. This is mainly because their mouth doesn’t have enough space for them to emerge properly, resulting in your wisdom teeth getting impacted. In other words, that means your wisdom teeth may grow out at an angle or emerge partially from the gumline.
And that’s when the neck pain can start.
Want to know how exactly your wisdom teeth can cause neck pain? Here’s how:
- Pressure and Misalignment: Impacted wisdom teeth can push against neighbouring teeth and your jaw, exerting unnecessary pressure. This pressure can then affect the alignment of your bite and jaw, causing strain on your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and ultimately leading to pain that extends to the neck and shoulders.
- Nerve Pressure: Wisdom teeth can press against the trigeminal nerve responsible for sensation in your face, especially your jaw. This discomfort can radiate to the neck, shoulders and even your head.
- Infections: Impacted wisdom teeth can be difficult to clean (because imagine cleaning a tooth that’s half trapped under the gum line). As a result, there is an increased risk of bacterial infections that can affect the gum surrounding the tooth. Such infections can cause swelling and pain that radiates to the neck.
- Inflammation and Swelling: Your body’s inflammatory response to wisdom teeth can spread into your neck muscles, leading to stiffness, soreness and difficulty in moving your neck.
- Changes to Your Bite: The pressure exerted by impacted wisdom teeth can sometimes cause your jaws to adjust to a new position, which can strain your jaw joints and muscles, leading to neck pain and stiffness.
What are the Symptoms of Wisdom Tooth-Related Neck Pain?
Now here’s the thing. While wisdom teeth can cause neck pain, it doesn’t mean your wisdom teeth are to blame all the time. Neck pain can have various other causes like poor posture, a pinched nerve, mental stress and osteoarthritis.
That being said, if any of the following symptoms accompany your neck pain, there’s a pretty strong possibility of your wisdom teeth being the culprit.
- Swelling around your jaws or cheeks
- Stiffness or pain in your jaw
- Difficulty opening your mouth
- Earaches, headaches or pain in your shoulders
- Bleeding gums
- Bad breath or a bad taste in your mouth
If any of these symptoms of wisdom teeth sound familiar, it’s a good idea to consult your dentist. A quick visit to Ashgrove Dental can help confirm if your wisdom teeth are the troublemakers and ensure timely treatment.
How To Address Wisdom Tooth-Related Neck Pain?
- Consult with a Dentist: As we mentioned earlier, consulting a dental professional is the best course of action you can take in this scenario. When you come in, we can examine your teeth and determine if your wisdom teeth are causing trouble. We may take X-rays to determine the exact position of your wisdom teeth and check for signs of infection or impaction. Then, based on their findings, they will recommend a tailored treatment plan for you.
- Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers: If you are experiencing mild pain, over-the-counter pain relievers can help reduce inflammation and help with both the tooth and neck pain.
- Antibiotics: If your wisdom teeth have caused an infection, our dentists may prescribe antibiotics to help fight off the infection and reduce the swelling and pain.
- Apply a Warm Compress: Applying a warm compress to the neck can help reduce the pain, providing some much-needed relief, but temporarily.
- Wisdom Tooth Extraction: In some cases, the only solution to alleviate pain may be wisdom tooth extraction. This is true, especially if your wisdom teeth are causing persistent pain.
So, that’s how wisdom teeth can cause neck pain. If you are experiencing neck pain combined with symptoms of an impacted wisdom tooth, the one piece of advice we have for you is not to wait it out. The longer you wait, the more pain you may experience and the more complicated the problem can get.
Our dentists at Ashgrove Dental are here to help you figure out if your wisdom teeth are causing you pain in the neck. If they are, we will take the appropriate next steps, whether it be managing the pain, treating an infection or extracting the tooth. So, get ahead and consult our dentists to relieve your pain.
