Disclaimer:
Any medical/health information in this course is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional advice. Accordingly, before taking any actions based on such information, I encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. The use or reliance of any information contained in this course is solely at your own risk.
If you’re experiencing a jaw problem, chances are, eating is uncomfortable (or downright painful).
This can be a big deal. Food is important! Not only is food fuel and nourishment, it’s also a way we engage socially with our community.
Often, people with jaw pain find themselves avoiding certain foods - and sometimes, certain social situations - because of their jaw problem.
If that’s you, you’ve probably noticed that some foods are more painful than others. Typically, these are tough, crunchy, or chewy foods.
Some examples include:
Nuts and seeds
Crunchy fruits and vegetables, like carrots or apples
Bagels and breads with tough crusts
Granola and protein bars
Salads
Sticky foods, like taffy or caramel
Many people find themselves avoiding some of these foods due to the pain they experience during or after eating them.
So, why do these foods hurt?
Why Some Foods Aggravate Jaw Pain
When you bite down, your jaw has to work. Muscles fire to bite into food.
This creates more stress on the joint.
Tougher, crunchier, chewier foods create more stress on the jaw than soft foods.
To be clear: our jaw is meant to handle LOTS of stress. It’s designed to move and work thousands of times every day. However, sometimes, the stress of eating on the joint is more than what the jaw is ready for at that time - perhaps due to recent tissue irritation, a jaw surgery, or just an accumulation of extra workload over time.
If a structure in the jaw is irritated, normal eating may become painful.
What solutions exist?
For some folks, tackling painful eating may be as simple as temporarily avoiding a few problematic foods while symptoms calm down.
For others, this can be a big project…
Some people need to spend time following a soft diet, which limits tough, hard, or chewy foods.
This gives the jaw a break, and helps tissues calm down before resuming normal foods later.
Other people need an even bigger break, and may spend time following a pureed diet. This minimizes chewing as much as possible. A pureed diet be a big challenge to plan and prepare adequate meals.
Most of the time, a thorough exam helps us understand if a soft or pureed diet is temporarily necessary to reach your goals.
Of course, questions naturally arise:
What exactly should you avoid?
Only foods that hurt, or other foods too?
For how long?
How quickly should you go back to a normal diet?
These are all questions that will be unique to each individual. If a soft or pureed diet is important for you, we have a host of strategies to help you navigate this period of time.
If you think we might be able to help you with your problem, reach out on the “Contact Us” page to set up a free phone consult.
Cheers,
Dr. Rebecca Salstrand, PT
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