What Causes Sharp Pain In Jaw And Neck?

Posted on Sun, 26 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 26 Jan 2014 Answered on

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Eating dinner and all of a sudden a very sharp pain, like a knife, at the bottom of the jaw on the right side just above the neck in the tube running from the jaw down the right side of the neck. Afterwards, the pain 'moved' to the middle of the throat. Then--this changed to a sensation of soreness when swallowing. I feel as if there is something in my throat.

Answered by Dr. Shoaib Khan (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: Requesting you to visit an ER at the earliest Detailed Answer: Hello ma'am and welcome. Thank you for writing to us. I would like to start by requesting you to visit a doctor at the earliest, just to be on the safer side as there could be two possibilities to your presentation: 1. Depending on what your meal contained, a solid object could have lodged itself in your throat causing the pain. For this reason, a doctor may have to examine your throat and help remove the lodged substance. Could you also provide me with contents of your meal, in your free time. As this would help. 2. Unfortunately, although not typical but your presentation (especially the sharp pain) can mimic symptoms of a possible heart attack ma'am. For this reason, I would request you to visit a doctor at the earliest for an EKG (ECG), check on levels of cardiac enzymes and a 2D echocardiography at the earliest. Please do not be alarmed, as I only wish to rule out the worst in order to be able to comfortably treat other simpler causes. I urge you to do so at the earliest ma'am. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help you. Best wishes.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar