Is it bad to crack your jaw?

Maybe your jaw feels stiff after a long day, so you open wide, shift it to one side and wait for the pop. For a second it feels better, and then a few minutes later the urge is back.

Plenty of people do this, often without noticing. In this article I explain what actually pops in your jaw, why it feels like a release, when forcing it can work against you and what I suggest instead as a physiotherapist.

Key takeaways

Cracking your jaw now and then without pain is usually harmless. A common source of jaw clicking is a small disc that slips back into place, and a systematic review describes this as a stable, pain-free and lifelong condition for most people (Naeije et al., 2013). Forcing the pop again and again is a different matter, especially when it hurts or your jaw catches.

• The relief you feel is short-lived, and in my experience the urge often goes along with tight chewing muscles.
• Pain, catching or a jaw that will not open fully are reasons to get it checked.
• A jaw stuck open that you cannot close needs emergency care, and you should not try to push it back yourself (MedlinePlus, 2025; Cleveland Clinic, 2023). A jaw that locks and will not open fully needs an urgent appointment (NHS, 2023).

What actually cracks when you pop your jaw?

Your jaw joint sits just in front of your ear, and a small disc of cartilage lies between the jawbone and the skull. In many people this disc sits slightly forward when the mouth is closed and slips back over the head of the jawbone as they open. That jump makes the click or pop. Disc displacement is very common, with reported prevalence of 18% to 35% in the general population (Naeije et al., 2013).

A second source of noise is the jaw gliding unusually far forward at wide opening. Dutch researchers describe clicks and jerky movements that happen when the head of the jawbone slides in front of a bony ridge called the eminence. In a small MRI study, nearly half of the nine people without jaw hypermobility also moved this far on maximum opening (Kalaykova et al., 2006), so going over the ridge at full opening is not unusual.

The crack in your knuckles works differently. In finger joints filmed on real-time MRI, the sound came from a gas cavity forming as the joint surfaces separated (Kawchuk et al., 2015). Most of what the jaw research describes is about the disc and the jawbone moving, which is why a jaw pop feels so different from cracking your fingers.

Why do I feel the need to crack my jaw?

In my practice, the people who crack their jaw most often are usually the ones who clench during the day. Tight chewing muscles make the jaw feel stiff and "stuck", and the pop gives a moment of movement that feels like relief. Studies have not measured this directly, so treat it as my clinical observation.

A related finding comes from a Dutch study of 260 adolescents, where daytime jaw clenching was weakly linked to a jaw that catches now and then, while a hypermobile jaw joint was not (Kalaykova et al., 2011). If the urge comes back every few minutes, the tension behind it is the better thing to work on. Our article on why your jaw feels tight covers that side in more detail.

Is it bad to crack your jaw on purpose?

An occasional painless pop is not a reason to worry. The NIDCR states that clicking or popping in the jaw joint without pain is common, considered normal and does not need treatment (NIDCR, 2026). The Cleveland Clinic adds that a jaw that pops only when you yawn or open really wide is probably due to temporary overextension and usually no cause for concern, especially without pain (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). The large review by Naeije and colleagues calls disc displacement a "noisy annoyance" for most people and says only a small minority lose the disc's ability to slip back (Naeije et al., 2013).

Repeatedly forcing your jaw wide or sideways to get the crack is something I advise people to stop. I am not aware of any study on deliberately cracking the jaw in people, so here I rely on what we know about overloading the joint. In a rat study, a single brief over-stretch of the jaw joint left female rats more sensitive to touch and guarding the joint, while male rats did not show this (Scharnhorst et al., 2026). Rat findings do not translate directly to people, and this was a one-off stretch rather than a habit, but they fit with standard advice. The NHS tells people with jaw problems not to yawn too wide, chew gum or pen tops (NHS, 2023).

Research on hypermobile jaws does not settle the question either way. A 2025 scoping review found studies on both sides of whether a jaw that glides too far is a risk factor for jaw disorders and concluded there is no consensus yet (Braga et al., 2025).

When popping comes with pain or catching

The warning sign is a change in how the joint behaves. In a two-year follow-up, the click in people without catching stayed stable. In people whose jaw caught now and then, the disc slipped back later and later on opening, and in seven of them the click disappeared because the disc no longer fully slipped back, usually without a permanently locked jaw (Kalaykova et al., 2010). So a click that suddenly goes quiet while opening gets harder is worth a check, even though it sounds like an improvement.

Try it: release the jaw without the crack

When someone tells me they crack their jaw all day, I start with this sequence. It gives the jaw the movement it seems to be asking for, slowly and in a straight line.

1. Sit upright in front of a mirror and let your shoulders drop.
2. Rest your lips lightly together with your teeth apart and the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, just behind your upper front teeth.
3. Breathe in slowly through your nose and out through your mouth, three times, letting your jaw hang a little heavier on each breath out.
4. Keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth and open slowly, only as far as it stays there. Watch that your chin stays in the middle.
5. Close slowly. Repeat five to ten times.
6. Finish with small slow circles of your fingertips over the thick chewing muscle at the angle of your jaw for about a minute on each side.

The tongue position keeps the opening short, which makes it hard to reach the pop. If you still feel the urge afterwards, notice it and let it pass rather than following it. Stop if anything hurts or your jaw catches.

In the moment

When the urge hits, check whether your teeth are touching. The NHS says that apart from eating, your teeth should be apart (NHS, 2023). Separate them, drop your tongue to the roof of your mouth and take one slow breath before you do anything else.

Long term

The NIDCR recommends cutting down on habits such as clenching, gum chewing and nail biting, and practising relaxation techniques (NIDCR, 2026). Pair that with the slow opening once or twice a day. More routines are on our TMJ exercises page, and if your jaw clicks while eating or yawning, read why your jaw clicks.

How JawBuddy helps

JawBuddy is a digital companion for guided jaw exercises and self-management. JawBuddy Therapy has micro programmes for acute complaints such as jaw clicking, alongside a treatment and a maintenance mode.

The app does not replace emergency care or an individual diagnosis from a qualified healthcare professional, so use it next to a check-up if your jaw hurts or catches.

When should you see a doctor?

Most people start with a dentist or their primary care doctor. The Cleveland Clinic advises making an appointment if you have ongoing jaw pain or tenderness or your jaw pops when you chew (Cleveland Clinic, 2023).

Call emergency services (911 in the US, 999 in the UK) or go straight to the emergency department (A&E in the UK) if:

• your jaw is stuck open or sticks out forward and you cannot close your mouth (MedlinePlus, 2025; Cleveland Clinic, 2023). In my experience this usually happens during a very wide yawn or a forced stretch,
• you have a jaw injury with difficulty breathing or heavy bleeding (MedlinePlus, 2025).

Do not try to pop a dislocated jaw back yourself (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). Hold it gently in place with your hands on the way to the emergency department and let a professional reset it (MedlinePlus, 2025).

Get an urgent appointment, or call NHS 111 in the UK, if:

• your jaw is locking or you have difficulty opening your mouth fully (NHS, 2023),
• you are unable to eat or drink (NHS, 2023).

Book a routine appointment soon if the popping is painful, your jaw catches now and then or a long-standing click has gone quiet while opening has become harder (NIDCR, 2026; Kalaykova et al., 2010). Our jaw pain page helps if pain is part of the picture.

You can let go of the crack

A painless pop is common and considered normal (NIDCR, 2026), and you do not need to chase it. This week, try swapping each crack for the teeth-apart check and one slow, straight opening. For the full background on jaw joint problems, read our TMJ disorder guide.