Is jaw pain a sign of a heart attack?

If your jaw hurts and you also feel pressure in your chest, are short of breath, sweating, feeling sick, or the pain is spreading into your arm, neck or back, stop reading and call emergency services now (911 in the US, 999 in the UK). Do not drive yourself (NHS; NHLBI).

If none of that is happening, your worry still makes sense, because jaw pain is on official lists of heart attack symptoms (NHS; NHLBI). Below you will find how heart pain and jaw pain differ and when not to take any chances.

Key takeaways

Yes, jaw pain can be a sign of a heart attack, usually alongside chest pain or pressure, and sometimes on its own. Pain together with chest, breathing or sweating symptoms is an emergency.

• Call 911 or 999 for jaw pain with chest pressure, breathlessness, sweating, nausea or pain spreading to the arm or back, even if you are not sure.
• Women and people with diabetes are more likely to have heart symptoms without classic chest pain, so take jaw pain with other symptoms seriously (Canto et al., 2012; NHLBI).
• Jaw pain that changes when you chew, open wide or press on your jaw muscles points towards TMJ, though that alone never rules out the heart.

When is jaw pain an emergency?

Call emergency services straight away if jaw pain comes with any of the following. The NHLBI says to call even if you are not sure it is a heart attack, because every minute matters.

• Chest pain, heaviness, pressure or squeezing, especially in the centre or left side of the chest (NHLBI; NHS)
• Pain spreading into one or both arms, the shoulders, neck or back (CDC, 2024)
• Shortness of breath, which can start before any chest discomfort (CDC, 2024)
• A cold sweat, feeling light-headed or faint, or nausea and vomiting (CDC, 2024; NHS angina)
• A racing or irregular heartbeat (NHLBI)
• Chest pain or pressure that does not go away, or pain brought on by effort that does not stop after a few minutes of rest or after your angina medicine (NHS angina; NHLBI angina)

While you wait, sit down and rest. The NHS advises taking a 300 mg aspirin if you have one and are not allergic to it (NHS). Follow what the 999 or 911 call handler tells you (NHS; NHLBI). Do not drive yourself to A&E (NHS). The NHLBI adds that you should not let someone else drive you either.

Why can a heart problem hurt in your jaw?

Pain from the heart is often felt somewhere other than the heart itself, which doctors call referred pain. Angina, the chest pain that comes when the heart does not get enough blood (NHS angina), can also be felt in the shoulders, arms, neck, back and jaw (NHLBI angina).

In 326 people with confirmed myocardial ischemia, jaw and face pain of cardiac origin was linked to reduced blood flow in the lower (inferior) wall of the heart, which suggests the vagus nerve plays a part. This kind of pain was also reported more often by people with diabetes (Kreiner et al., 2014).

Can jaw pain be the only sign of a heart attack?

It can, although this is the exception. In the study of 186 people with a verified cardiac ischemic episode, 11 (6%) had pain only in the face, jaw or throat region, and three of them were having a heart attack. Another 32% had jaw or face pain together with pain elsewhere. The most common spots were the throat, the left and right lower jaw, the area of the left jaw joint and ear, and the teeth (Kreiner et al., 2007).

A later review put the figure at up to 4% of heart attack patients who feel pain only in the face, jaw or teeth, women more often than men. People whose heart attack shows up without chest pain take longer to reach hospital and are at higher risk of dying because the diagnosis gets missed (Kreiner et al., 2020).

Is jaw pain a heart attack sign in women and people with diabetes?

In a US registry of more than one million heart attack patients, 42% of women arrived at hospital without chest pain, compared with 31% of men, and the gap was largest in younger patients (Canto et al., 2012). The NHLBI notes that women more often feel angina in the arms, neck, back and jaw, and more often have breathlessness, nausea or light-headedness that may not be recognised as coming from the heart (NHLBI angina). Unusual tiredness, sometimes for days, is also more common in women (NHLBI).

The NHLBI also warns that silent heart attacks, with mild or no symptoms, are more common in older adults and in people with diabetes or high blood sugar.

How does heart-related jaw pain differ from TMJ pain?

Researchers compared jaw and face pain caused by the heart (115 people) with pain caused by the teeth (359 people). Pain from the heart was more often described as pressure or burning, while dental pain was more often throbbing or aching. Other features that point to the heart are pain brought on or made worse by physical activity, relief at rest, and pain on both sides (Kreiner et al., 2010). Note that this study compared the heart with the teeth, not with TMJ disorders.

TMJ pain, or temporomandibular disorder (TMD), behaves differently. The international diagnostic criteria require that the pain changes with jaw movement, chewing or habits like clenching, and that an examiner can reproduce your familiar pain by moving your jaw or pressing on the muscles or joint (Schiffman et al., 2014).

In practice, I look at these patterns:

• Trigger: effort such as climbing stairs (Kreiner et al., 2010), or stress, emotion or cold (NHS angina), points towards the heart. Chewing, yawning or a long day of clenching points towards TMD.
• Feel: pressure or burning that is hard to pin down suggests the heart. A sore spot you can find with your fingers suggests a muscle or joint.
• Duration: angina usually lasts less than 10 minutes and settles with rest (NHS angina). TMD pain tends to get worse with chewing and when you feel stressed (NHS TMD).
• Company: breathlessness, sweating, nausea or chest pressure belong to the heart. Clicking, locking and tender chewing muscles belong to the jaw.

None of these features is a diagnosis on its own, and someone with long-standing TMJ pain can still have a heart attack.

Try it: a jaw check for when you feel otherwise well

Use this only for jaw pain that has been around for a while, at rest, with no chest, breathing, sweating or nausea symptoms. I start physiotherapy assessments with a check like this to see whether the jaw itself is involved. It cannot tell you that your heart is fine.

1. Sit comfortably and rate your jaw pain from 0 to 10.
2. Open your mouth slowly as wide as is comfortable, then close. Notice whether the familiar pain gets stronger.
3. Chew gently on your back teeth for 10 seconds without food and notice the pain again.
4. Press two fingertips for five seconds on the thick muscle at the angle of your jaw, then on your temple above the ear, on each side.

If moving your jaw or pressing on these muscles brings on the pain you know, your jaw muscles or joint are probably involved (Schiffman et al., 2014), but this does not rule out your heart. If the pain only appears when you walk, climb or exert yourself and goes away when you stop, do not keep testing. Get a medical check the same day, and call 911 or 999 if it does not settle with rest.

How JawBuddy helps

JawBuddy is a digital companion for guided jaw exercises and self-management. If a doctor or dentist has confirmed that your pain comes from your jaw, guided exercises can be a sensible next step. The NIDCR suggests gentle exercises to stretch and strengthen the jaw muscles for TMD (NIDCR). See also our TMJ exercises page.

JawBuddy does not replace emergency care or an individual diagnosis from a qualified healthcare professional. If there is any chance your jaw pain is coming from your heart, call emergency services first.

When should you see a doctor?

Call 911 or 999 now if jaw pain comes with chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, light-headedness, or pain spreading to your arm, neck or back, or if jaw or chest pain brought on by effort does not ease after a few minutes of rest (NHLBI; NHS; NHS angina).

See a doctor urgently, the same day, if you get jaw pain that keeps coming back with exertion and settles with rest, even without other symptoms. This pattern fits angina, and angina can lead to a heart attack (NHLBI angina; NHS angina).

If you have been diagnosed with angina and it feels worse than before, happens more often, lasts longer or comes on while you are resting, get urgent help the same day. In the UK, call NHS 111 (NHS angina). The NHLBI counts these changes as signs of unstable angina and says to call 911 whenever you cannot tell whether your pain is angina or a heart attack (NHLBI angina; NHLBI). If the pain is happening right now and does not stop with rest or your angina medicine, call 999 or 911.

Ask for an urgent GP appointment or call NHS 111 if you cannot eat or drink, your jaw clicks, pops or grinds, will not open fully or locks, you have pain at the side of your head or tenderness on the scalp, frequent severe headaches or vision problems such as double vision (NHS TMD). Book a routine appointment with your doctor or dentist if jaw pain without any of these signs keeps coming back or interrupts your sleep. The NHS notes that TMD is not usually serious and generally gets better on its own (NHS TMD). If your pain sits on one side, our guide to jaw pain on one side covers the common causes, and our jaw pain page gives a wider overview.

Checking is never an overreaction

The NHLBI's advice is simple: any time you think you might be having a heart attack, do not ignore it (NHLBI). If your heart has been checked and your jaw is the culprit, our TMJ disorder guide explains the next steps.