Yes, you can get arthritis in your jaw. The jaw connects to your skull through the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), a small but complex joint on each side of your face just in front of your ears. Like your knees or hips, this joint has cartilage, synovial fluid, and a small disc that cushions movement, and all of these structures are vulnerable to the same types of arthritis that affect joints elsewhere in the body. Osteoarthritis is the most common form, but rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and other inflammatory types can also target the TMJ.
Types of Arthritis That Affect the Jaw
Osteoarthritis in the TMJ develops when the cartilage and disc that cushion the joint break down over time. This can result from disc displacement, direct trauma, teeth grinding, an uneven bite, or simply long-term wear. Excessive or unbalanced loading on the joint accelerates the damage, triggering inflammation, cartilage degradation, and eventually changes to the bone itself.
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common inflammatory arthritis to reach the TMJ. It’s an autoimmune condition where the body’s immune system attacks the joint lining, and an estimated 50% or more of people with rheumatoid arthritis develop TMJ symptoms at some point. Most people notice jaw problems more than five years after their initial rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis, though some develop them within the first year. Early-stage involvement tends to show up as pain and crepitus (a grating sensation), while longer-standing disease gradually reduces how well the joint moves.
Psoriatic arthritis and juvenile inflammatory arthritis can also involve the jaw. In children with juvenile inflammatory arthritis, TMJ involvement varies by subtype but affects roughly 30% to 60% of cases depending on the specific form of the disease.
What Jaw Arthritis Feels Like
Pain in the chewing muscles or the joint itself is the hallmark symptom. That pain often spreads into the face, temples, or neck, which can make it hard to pinpoint at first. Other common signs include:
- Jaw stiffness, especially in the morning or after periods of rest
- Limited mouth opening or a sensation that the jaw locks in place
- Painful clicking, popping, or grating when you open or close your mouth
- A shift in your bite, where your upper and lower teeth no longer fit together the way they used to
- Ear-related symptoms like ringing, fullness, or dizziness
One important distinction: clicking or popping sounds in the jaw without any pain are common and considered normal. They don’t require treatment on their own. It’s when those sounds come with pain, stiffness, or restricted movement that arthritis or another TMJ disorder becomes a real concern.
How It’s Diagnosed
A dentist or oral specialist will typically start with a physical exam, checking your head, neck, face, and jaw for tenderness, joint sounds, and range of motion. From there, imaging helps confirm what’s happening inside the joint.
CT scans and cone beam CT are widely used to look for bone changes like flattening, spurs, or erosion of the joint surface. MRI provides a detailed view of soft tissues, including the disc and cartilage, making it especially useful for catching problems before significant bone damage has occurred. In some cases, nuclear imaging techniques can detect increased metabolic activity in the joint, which flags active inflammation or early degeneration that might not show up on a standard CT scan yet.
What Causes It to Develop
Jaw arthritis doesn’t have a single cause. For osteoarthritis, the primary driver is mechanical stress that outpaces the joint’s ability to repair itself. That stress can come from a disc that has slipped out of position, a jaw injury, habitual clenching or grinding (bruxism), or an unstable bite that distributes chewing forces unevenly. These factors increase friction within the joint, damage the cartilage surface, and trigger the release of inflammatory molecules that accelerate breakdown.
For inflammatory types like rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, the process is systemic. The immune system drives chronic inflammation in the joint lining, which gradually erodes cartilage and bone. Because the TMJ is a smaller joint, it’s sometimes overlooked during routine rheumatology checkups, even though three out of four rheumatoid arthritis patients in one study reported TMJ complaints.
Non-Surgical Treatment Options
Most people with jaw arthritis start with conservative treatments. Anti-inflammatory medications, particularly over-the-counter options like ibuprofen or naproxen, are among the most commonly used first-line therapies. They reduce both pain and the underlying inflammation driving joint damage. For more targeted relief, a doctor may offer injections directly into the joint using a steroid or hyaluronic acid to reduce swelling and improve lubrication.
Beyond medication, a soft food diet during flare-ups helps reduce the load on the joint. Physical therapy exercises that gently stretch and strengthen the muscles around the jaw can improve range of motion over time. A custom-made oral splint or night guard is often recommended if clenching or grinding is contributing to the problem, since reducing that mechanical stress slows further deterioration.
Heat and cold therapy, stress management techniques, and avoiding extreme jaw movements (like wide yawning or chewing gum) round out the conservative approach. For many people, especially those with mild to moderate osteoarthritis, these strategies provide meaningful relief without the need for any procedure.
When Procedures or Surgery Are Needed
If conservative treatment isn’t enough, minimally invasive procedures are the next step. Arthrocentesis involves flushing the joint space with fluid to remove inflammatory debris and improve movement. Arthroscopy uses a tiny camera inserted into the joint, allowing a surgeon to both visualize and treat problems directly. Both procedures have success rates of roughly 80% to 90% for reducing pain and improving function.
A recent randomized trial comparing the two found that arthroscopy produced significantly better pain relief during jaw movement over 12 months of follow-up. For other measures like mouth opening, jaw movement range, and pain at rest, the two procedures performed similarly.
For severe, end-stage arthritis where the joint has been destroyed by disease, total joint replacement is an option. A prosthetic joint replaces the damaged surfaces entirely. A systematic review of studies spanning up to 21 years of follow-up found an overall survival rate of 97% for TMJ prostheses, meaning the vast majority of replacements remain functional long-term. This is reserved for cases where less invasive options have failed or the joint damage is too extensive to salvage.
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Your Jaw
If you already have rheumatoid arthritis and are wondering whether your jaw pain might be related, the answer is very likely yes. The TMJ is one of the joints frequently affected by the disease, and jaw symptoms tend to worsen as overall disease duration increases. Early rheumatoid arthritis, within the first two years, is linked to higher pain intensity both at rest and during maximum mouth opening, along with early cartilage breakdown. As the disease becomes established, the joint gradually loses function and range of motion.
Keeping your rheumatoid arthritis well controlled with systemic treatment is one of the most effective ways to protect your jaw joints. If you’re experiencing new jaw stiffness, pain with chewing, or difficulty opening your mouth fully, bring it up with your rheumatologist so the TMJ can be evaluated alongside your other joints.