Whenever our bodies face adverse situations, the muscles in the concerned areas tense up. It is a natural human response to emotional and physical stress. All humans are equipped with this fight-or-flight response. When the body is stressed, it releases various hormones to activate the SNS or the sympathetic nervous system. This leads to the contraction of the muscles.
If the situation gets prolonged, the muscles do not relax and remain that way. This tension can lead to various levels of discomfort amongst individuals.
Read about the issue and its symptoms and treatment in detail here.
Causes of Facial Tension
Facial pain often results due to headaches and injuries. There are other reasons, too. Sometimes, it may be due to nerve problems, jaw stress, and dental problems as well. The pain may stay at one point or spread to other areas around the face, as well. Neuralgia is a condition that affects the facial nerves and leads to pain and uneasiness. Temporomandibular pain may also occur in many individuals. It causes pain and discomfort in the jaws of the mouth.
Vascular pain is another problem that deals with malfunctioning blood vessels. All these conditions cause immense pain in the mouth. You may even experience facial stress due to the common cold. A viral throat infection involving the throat or pharynx may even lead to pain and stiffness. Streptococcus pyogenes is often behind such a condition. You need the intervention of a doctor in such cases.
You should also know about dental pain, the most common cause against the above reasons. You have to go back to school to learn about the causes. The third molars are the last set of teeth that erupt from 16 years of age onward. However, they can also appear much later in a few adults. Since they are located at the far end of the jaw, they may not find space to erupt properly. You will often find them growing at a perpendicular angle and causing stress.
Symptoms Decoded
Headaches and facial or jaw stress are common symptoms in such cases. Other symptoms are fever, tenderness, swollen gums, and a foul smell from the site of infection if it is due to the tooth’s abscess. If it is temporomandibular pain, you may experience restricted jaw movement, and clicking noises may even emanate from your mouth. Fatigue in the case of viral infections is a common symptom today. Along with fatigue, you might feel nauseous as well. It differs from person to person.
Dental abnormalities often lead to various problems like overcrowding and infection. The premolars may constantly push at the other teeth to misalign them. You may also have difficulties chewing. All through this, nagging pain in the mouth can disrupt all your activities.
Headaches are of various types, the most common one being a dull and aching pain. You can also have a feeling of tightness. Episodic tension headaches and chronic headaches are the two most common types that lead to pain and stress on facial muscles.
Remedies and Treatment Options
Facial tension is often a result of stress and anxiety. Thus, if you can control these factors, it can help you. Adopt a healthy lifestyle and get instant relief from the stress. Additionally, it is better to get a wisdom tooth extraction done if it is due to the premolars. If you do not get it done in the nascent stages, it can grow further down into the jaw bone and make removal difficult.
Apart from the above, you can relieve the tension in various ways. They include taking a hot bath, a massage, meditation, or deep breathing. There are around fifty different muscles in your face. You can exercise them to keep them moving. CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy also helps. It is a goal-based talk therapy best done by a psychological counselor. Your doctor might even give you medication to get relief from the same.
During the consultation, the doctor may prescribe anticonvulsants. They are used readily in the treatment of nerve pain. Gabapentin and carbamazepine are the available options today. You may even have to take a dose of antibiotics. If the doctor ascertains that the pain is caused due to bacteria, then antibiotics will be the best option for you. You might even have to undergo surgery if things do not go well. The surgery aims at destroying the nerves that cause the pain. Talk to your doctor to decide upon the right course of treatment.
Now, you can easily understand when someone has facial stress. Moreover, the information shared herein will help you assess the situation and opt for a healthcare diagnosis, which will lay out the treatment plan. If the pain lessens with some easy home remedies, it should not be a cause for worry. In other cases, you ought to contact a doctor.
