You have worn the splint. You have had your bite adjusted. Maybe you have tried Botox, or soft foods, or physical therapy for your jaw. Some of it helped for a while. Then the pain came back, or the morning headache, or that dull ache in front of your ear that spreads up into your temple.
If that is where you are, there is one question worth asking. Has anyone looked at your neck?
Your jaw and the top of your neck report to the same place
Sensation from your jaw, your teeth, and most of your face travels along the trigeminal nerve. Sensation from the top of your neck travels along your first three cervical nerves, C1, C2, and C3. Those signals do not stay separate. They arrive at the same relay station in your brainstem, a long column of cells called the trigeminocervical nucleus.
A 2022 review in Medicina mapped this in detail (Sedy et al., Medicina 2022;58(10):1324). The upper three cervical nerves connect densely into that shared column. The fourth cervical nerve and everything below it does not. The connection belongs specifically to the top of your neck, and it runs in both directions. Jaw trouble can produce neck pain. Trouble at the top of your neck can produce pain your brain reads as jaw, ear, temple, or cheek.
What the research shows when jaws and necks are studied together
A 2020 systematic review in the Journal of Clinical Medicine pooled 32 observational studies covering 1,903 people with temporomandibular disorders, the clinical name for problems of the jaw joint and the muscles that move it (Cuenca-Martinez et al., J Clin Med 2020;9(9):2806). Across six of those studies and 548 patients, neck disability scores tracked with jaw disability scores at a moderate, consistent level. The review also found reduced neck range of motion and more tenderness in the muscles at the top of the neck in people with jaw disorders.
One measure went the other way. Head and neck posture, the forward carriage of the head, showed no meaningful difference between people with jaw disorders and people without. Posture can be a variable but is not the whole picture.
Treating the neck changes what the jaw feels
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis in the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation examined seven randomized controlled trials of cervical treatment in adults with muscle-driven jaw pain (Bednarczyk, Proulx, and Paez, J Oral Rehabil 2024, DOI 10.1111/joor.13671). Upper cervical manual therapy, on its own or paired with a neck rehabilitation program, improved pain intensity, tenderness in the jaw muscles, and how far people could open their mouths.
Watch Dr. Flick, DC, and Dr. Coates, DDS discuss how dentists and upper cervical chiropractors work together to solve TMJ pain (click the image below):
Why a splint can help and still leave you stuck
A splint does real work. It changes how your teeth meet, unloads the joint, and takes pressure off muscles that have been working overtime for years. For many people, that is enough.
When it is not enough, the usual reason is that the splint is doing everything it can at one end of a problem with two ends. If the top of your neck is holding a misalignment, signals keep arriving at that shared relay station all day long. The jaw gets quieter. The system does not.
What we assess at Atlas
We’re trained to measure the top of your neck precisely. That assessment is called the Blueprint Spinal Analysis, and it has three parts: a hands-on exam to locate tight muscles, spinal restrictions, and inflammation; an AI-analyzed 3-D postural evaluation; and comprehensive digital spinal X-ray analysis.
The imaging carries the most weight. Orthospinology, the Upper Cervical technique used at Atlas, measures the position of your Atlas, the top bone in your neck, in degrees and millimeters from your own images. Those numbers set the direction, angle, and depth of your correction. Every problem has a cause, and we never guess about yours.
If we look and find nothing at the top of your neck that would explain what you are feeling, you will hear that from us plainly, along with who we think can help you instead. If we do find misalignment, then this is a path well worth pursuing.
This sits alongside your dental care
Your dentist owns the joint, the bite, and the teeth, and splint therapy remains the right first move for a great many people. Upper Cervical care addresses the other end of the same neural pathway. The two work well together, and your dentist is welcome to call us directly at 254-304-7474.
If your jaw has been treated and the pain keeps coming back
A complimentary consultation is a straightforward place to start. You tell us the history, we listen, and you get an honest answer about whether we believe we can help. You would be surprised how much of this kind of expertise sits right here in Waco, in a small-town practice where people know your name.
Call 254-304-7474 or schedule your complimentary consultation at atlaschiropracticwaco.com.
Citations:
Šedý J, Rocabado M, Olate LE, Vlna M, Žižka R. Neural basis of etiopathogenesis and treatment of cervicogenic orofacial pain. Medicina. 2022;58(10):1324.
https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58101324
Full text: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9611820/ Cuenca-Martínez F, Herranz-Gómez A, Madroñero-Miguel B, et al. Craniocervical and Cervical Spine Features of Patients with Temporomandibular Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. J Clin Med. 2020;9(9):2806.
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9092806
Full text: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/9/9/2806. Bednarczyk V, Proulx F, Paez A. The effectiveness of cervical rehabilitation interventions for pain in adults with myogenic temporomandibular disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Oral Rehabil. 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1111/joor.13671
References
- Šedý J, Rocabado M, Olate LE, Vlna M, Žižka R. Neural basis of etiopathogenesis and treatment of cervicogenic orofacial pain. Medicina. 2022;58(10):1324. doi.org/10.3390/medicina58101324
- Cuenca-Martínez F, Herranz-Gómez A, Madroñero-Miguel B, et al. Craniocervical and cervical spine features of patients with temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020;9(9):2806. doi.org/10.3390/jcm9092806
- Bednarczyk V, Proulx F, Paez A. The effectiveness of cervical rehabilitation interventions for pain in adults with myogenic temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. 2024. doi.org/10.1111/joor.13671
Reviewed by Dr. Christy Flick, DC · Last reviewed September 2026
This article is for educational purposes and shares general information about upper cervical chiropractic care. It isn’t a substitute for an individual clinical assessment, and results vary from person to person. If you’re wondering whether this could be the source of what you’re dealing with, we’d welcome the chance to take a look. Schedule a complimentary consultation at atlaschiropracticwaco.com or call 254-304-7474.
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