Acupuncture for Facial Pain: TMJ, Jaw Pain and Trigeminal Neuralgia

Facial pain can make eating, talking and even sleeping a struggle. For jaw pain from TMJ problems, reviews of clinical trials show acupuncture can reduce pain more than sham treatment, especially when tight jaw muscles are the cause. We also support people living with trigeminal neuralgia alongside their medical care. Our practitioners have been treating pain in London for 25 years.

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What causes facial pain?

TMJ and jaw pain. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD), often called TMJ, affects the jaw joint and the muscles that move it. It causes pain in the jaw, face or around the ear, clicking or popping, a jaw that locks or won’t open fully, and headaches. Common causes include clenching or grinding your teeth, often linked to stress, as well as injury, arthritis in the joint and a misaligned bite.

Trigeminal neuralgia. This is a nerve condition that causes sudden, severe, electric-shock-like pain on one side of the face, often set off by touching the face, eating, talking or a breeze. Attacks can be brief but come in clusters. It is usually caused by a blood vessel pressing on the trigeminal nerve, and it needs to be diagnosed by your GP or a neurologist.

See your GP or dentist if your jaw is locked or you can’t open your mouth, pain follows an injury, or you have swelling, fever or numbness in your face. See your GP promptly about new one-sided facial pain, especially if you’re under 40, have numbness, or have other neurological symptoms. Jaw pain with chest pain or breathlessness needs urgent help. Facial pain can also come from the sinuses; facial weakness is covered on our Bell’s palsy page.

How acupuncture can help

For TMJ and jaw pain, acupuncture can reduce pain and help the jaw open more freely, particularly when overworked jaw muscles are behind the problem. It works well alongside a night guard, jaw exercises and managing stress and clenching habits. Because jaw pain is so often linked to tension in the neck and shoulders and to headaches, we look at the whole picture, not just the jaw.

For trigeminal neuralgia, we use acupuncture alongside the medication your doctor prescribes, never instead of it. Many patients come to us hoping to ease the background pain and tension between attacks and to cope better with a condition that can be exhausting. We work gently and avoid trigger areas on your face, often using points on the hands, feet and neck instead.

We work alongside your dentist, GP and specialists, and we’ll tell you honestly if we think another approach would suit you better. Researchers think acupuncture works partly by changing how nerves and the brain process pain signals, including the release of the body’s own pain-relieving chemicals. The exact mechanisms are still being studied.

What the research shows

• Wu et al., 2017 (Medicine) — nine studies and 231 people with TMD. Acupuncture reduced jaw pain more than sham acupuncture and sham laser, with the biggest effect in people whose pain came from the jaw muscles.
• La Touche et al., 2010 (Clinical Journal of Pain) — the better-quality trials in this review found acupuncture reduced TMD pain, and improved chewing and how wide people could open their mouths, more than placebo or sham.
• Yin et al., 2022 (Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine) — 58 trials and 4,126 people with trigeminal neuralgia. Several acupuncture methods were linked to less pain and no serious side effects, though the authors rated most of the evidence very low quality and called for better trials.

Research on acupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia is still at an early stage. Results vary between people, and acupuncture is not a replacement for medical or dental assessment.

What to expect

Your first appointment lasts an hour. We take a full history, check your jaw, neck and shoulders, look at any letters from your dentist, GP or neurologist, and agree a plan with you. Treatment uses very fine, single-use needles, left in for 15 to 20 minutes. For jaw pain we usually place a few around the jaw and temple; for trigeminal neuralgia we often work away from the face. Where suitable we may add electro-acupuncture or a heat lamp.

Most people start with weekly sessions and we review progress together after four to six. Initial consultations start from £80; see clinics and fees for details.

Why The London Acupuncture Clinic

• 25 years treating patients in London
• Degree-qualified practitioners who work alongside GPs and consultants, with close links to physiotherapists and chiropractors
• Open seven days a week, with early-morning and evening appointments
• Receipts for insurance claims on request

What our patients say

“I came to see Olga with a completely locked jaw … Within the very first session my jaw was improved – after three it was completely back to normal.” — G.C., Google review