• Head pain
• Neck pain
• Shoulder pain
• Ear pain
• Dizziness with or without nausea
• Tinnitus (ear noises)
• Numbness and/or tingling in the arms and hands
• Restrictions in head and neck mobility
• Pain and/or pressure behind the eye
• Visual and auditory changes

Immediately following the trauma episode, jaw joint pain and/or jaw joint noises during function may or may not be present. However, since cervical dysfunction and temporomandibular dysfunction are mutually provocative, lack of effective treatment, poor treatment or mistreatment will inevitably result in the following complaints:

• Jaw joint crepitus and/or popping/clicking
• Jaw pain
• Facial pain
• Pain and/or difficulty in chewing
• Restrictions in jaw opening and other mandibular ranges of motion
• Ear congestion

**The more time that lapses from the trauma episode, the more the victim’s complaints will include symptoms and dysfunctions further removed from the head and neck.

Early effective diagnosis and treatment of the victim’s complaints should preclude this occurrence.

**Latent temporomandibular joint dysfunction complaints may not surface until months after the trauma episode. The presence or absence of pain in the specific jaw joint site is not necessarily an indicator of permanent damage to the jaw joint mechanism. In addition, the effect of other injuries sustained in the trauma episode may well have the attention of the victim.

Blunt trauma in a "whiplash" trauma episode is not a requisite for permanent injuries; in fact, an uninterrupted "whiplash" sequence has a potential for more permanent tissue damage. Blunt trauma victims present a different forensic profile.

For more information please see the Litigation information.