A chipped tooth or a swollen jaw feels like a clear problem.
You can see it, you can point to it, it hurts in a very specific place. That's usually what you pay attention to, and the assumption is simple – fix what's broken in the mouth and move on.
But when it comes to trauma, things don't work this neatly.
What often can be seen here are cracked teeth and split/bruised lips. But even though they draw a lot of attention, they sometimes aren't the main issue. What they instead are are clues that point to something more severe.
The force that injured the mouth wasn't as 'polite' as to stop at the jawline.
Once you're able to see oral trauma as a symptom instead of a conclusion, you're able to truly know what the injury is all about, enabling you to treat it accordingly.
Why Oral Trauma Rarely Happens in Isolation
It's pretty rare for oral trauma to happen on its own, although it often looks like that at first.
The mouth sits in the middle of a tightly connected system. Teeth are anchored to the jaw, the jaw connects to the skull, and the skull protects the brain. Nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and tissue all run through it.
So, when a force hits one part of this system, it hardly ever stays contained to one single spot.
That's why an injury that seems like nothing more than a dental issue can be misleading. A cracked tooth or a sore jaw usually means that energy traveled through the face.
The bones are designed to absorb the impact, but they also act as pathways and pass that force up. Even if there's no obvious skull fracture or a visible head wound, the movement and the shock can still cause brain trauma. The damage doesn't always show up as something breaking; sometimes it's about how suddenly the brain was jolted inside the skull.
This is especially true with certain types of trauma.
Here's a quick example of why:
Because of the nature of a fall from a height and the mechanics of it all, it's the jaw and face that commonly get injured, as well as the hands.
This is because of the body's natural protective instinct. If the jaw sustains blunt force trauma (e.g., from falls), it transfers most of the force straight to the back of the skull. These acceleration and rapid deceleration injuries (where the head snaps forward and back rapidly; a.k.a. whiplash) commonly causes damage to the mouth area. Still, it's the brain that absorbs most of the energy from the impact.
These types of injuries are pretty common in hobbies that include heights/jumps/stunts (e.g., parkour, skateboarding, bouldering, etc.), but it's professions that often include working in elevated conditions, such as construction, that frequently have these types of injuries.
For anyone who has suffered a brain injury (e.g., while on a job), construction site brain injury information or industrial accident injury studies can help explain why oral injuries are so often part of the bigger trauma picture instead of being isolated events. Plus, this type of information can greatly help you deal with the aftermath of the injury.
3 (Oral) Signs That Might Point to a Neurological Injury
Oral injuries can be easy to spot, but what's harder to recognize is when those injuries point to something deeper.
Unexpected Changes in Bite or Jaw Coordination
When the bite feels off all of a sudden, the first assumption is that the issue is structural, like perhaps a tooth has shifted or the jaw is misaligned. And sometimes that's true. But other times, this isn't caused by something shifting or breaking.
The brain controls how the jaw muscles work together and, when that control is disrupted, movements can feel awkward.
This kind of problem often feels inconsistent and hard to pinpoint, which can make it different from a simple jaw injury.
Sensory Changes in Lips, Tongue, or Facial Skin
Even if you can't see any type of damage, there could still be indicators to be cautious of (e.g., a tingling sensation in the lips, tongue, or face). This is likely due to nerve damage, because a hit to the head/face could lead to nerve irritation or compression without leaving any 'obvious' marks.
And because nothing looks wrong on the outside, people often ignore these types of symptoms, thinking they'll pass after a couple of days.
Difficulties with Speech and/or Swallowing
After a brain injury, the brain-mouth coordination can be off, leading to words coming out more slowly or unclear (slurred). Swallowing can also be more difficult with victims describing it as being 'uncomfortable' and/or 'unfamiliar'.
Medical professionals often blame these changes on pain or swelling, but they can also come from the brain having a hard time controlling movements it once handled without issues.
Conclusion
Oral injuries are usually the ones that demand a lot of attention. Not necessarily because of the damage, but it also has an aesthetic factor that we can't just ignore. And if damage to the mouth is all there is, that's actually the best case scenario.
The REAL problems start when these are nothing more than symptoms of something more severe.