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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Tinnitus / August 2005Exploring the link between TMJ and Tinnitus
I'm 31 and have had tinnitus for about 9 months. It was initially very quiet, but now quite loud and annoying and has markedly increased in the last month or two. I don't work in an occupation that exposes me to noise and when I used to I would always wear hearing protection. I haven't yet seen an ENT specialist; my first appointment is in a couple of weeks time. I have, however, been reading with interest tonight about the potential (?) correlation between TMJ and tinnitus. I read on another site that if you push your jaw back and that changes the sound (for me it goes about 3x louder), if you clench your teeth that it changes the sound (for me it goes a bit louder), and if you push hard on your forehead and resist it with the forehead, it will also change the sound (again it goes a bit louder for me). This leads me to my question and that is... Does the fact that pushing on my jaw etc changes my perceived tinnitus sound levels (and in all cases increases) mean that it is definitely (or very likely) related to TMJ, or could it still have a high chance of being something else? To put it another way, if tinnitus in *not* linked to TMJ, say it's purely due to ear damage, then would pushing on your jaw change the sound then? For me, I am eager to explore the link between TMJ and tinnitus because although I have not been diagnosed with TMJ I do occassionally get the odd jaw pop sound, I have some sore facial muscles (only really noticed that recently too) and I have a long history (from the age of about 12 to 21) of orthodontic treatment including non-invasive bite correction. Looking at my bite now it appears to have regressed to the point where my top front teeth are falling behind my bottom teeth (the previous orthodontic work was to correct this). I'd be very grateful to hear from anyone who has any knowledge of or experience with this. This would make interesting reading for you. Some of Jim's patients mentioned that their T improved after TMJ treatment, although the book is not aimed at T in particular. http://www.DrJimboyd.com/book/Title.htm Elly's Tinnitus Resources http://eebee.net/ >I'm 31 and have had tinnitus for about 9 months. It was initially very >quiet, but now quite loud and annoying and has markedly increased in [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >orthodontic work was to correct this). I'd be very grateful to hear >from anyone who has any knowledge of or experience with this. you are 31 and this is only the first instance of your having t. thus your t may or may not have anything to do with your bite but certainly you should check into it and see if it is the cause however, even after you wear something to prevent the biting at night, it will still take a month to 6 months before you could experience the improvement. i would if i were you apply blood vessel dilating medicine as soon as possible. This is the commonest medicial practice for t patients in China. One guy who i knew went in for this type of treatment got well and has not had any t since. you may want to talk to your doctor about it. But do it quickly. Do NOT allow your t to get old!!! Habituation does not mean doing nothing. At this point I'm just brain storming what the potential causes could be and I'm writing down the symptoms I have including the things that appear to reduce the t, and those that make it worse. Unfortunately at this point I mainly have a list of things that make it worse, and not too many that make it better and those that do make it better are only very short lived. I guess I'm not telling anyone anything new here. I'm wondering whether my right eye-lid twitching, my right ear aching, the lump in my right temple that has recently appeared, or aching behind my right eye have anything to do with it, since the t is definitely louder on the right side. Maybe I'm just becoming an hypochondriac? All this from someone who has taken just a couple of sick days in my life! What is the significance of the blood vessel dilating medicine? I thought I noticed a t reduction after exercising which would contradict what I have read on other sites, but might correlate to what you are saying about blood vessel dilation. Dear Wayne, I am not a doctor but telling you what I went through. According to the doctors, the blood vessel dilating medicine could bring about more abundant oxygen supply to the vital organs which might be responsible for your tinnitus. Tinnitus is a sound or a signal that tells you something is wrong with your body. I would if I were you go and talk to a doctor right away and discuss with him the ideas you take from this ng. But the final decision should rest in the hand of your doctor. Don't intellectualize too much but just 'go'! FP Thanks for the advice. I absolutely intend to see the ENT, but the earliest appointment I could get is still 2 weeks away. I found out today a friend of mine, same age, has been living in silence not in silence if you get the drift. We had a bit of a chat today and he told me he has to have the TV on at night so he can sleep so it must be bad enough. He also told me that he just thought it was old age (he's 31 like me) so he never even thought of seeing the doctor. I told him about this user group and also passed him on a link to a local government orgianization that provides information on T and also the potential correlation with TMJ. My information arrived in the post today and according to the TMJ check list, this is something I should pursue even if its outside the area an ENT is going to cover. Anyway I do have an open mind at this point since I am yet to see a real doctor about it. I'll keep the group informed of my progress, even if its just for my own sanity. Wayne. I am 49 have had T almost 3 years, it started after the removal of a bad crown on the same side I have T. The dentist just about ripped my head apart removing the crown that was way to big. A new crown was set a few weeks later but I always had pain in that tooth. About a month later the T started. I had a root canal on the tooth, hoped that would help it did not. About a year later I had the tooth pulled. Now I am having an impacted wisdom tooth pulled on the same side. I have all of the same change of intensity when I clench teeth, push on forehead, push on cheeks, no one wants to talk about TMJ or helping with my T I hope the removal off the wisdom tooth tones the T down > I'm 31 and have had tinnitus for about 9 months. It was initially very > quiet, but now quite loud and annoying and has markedly increased in [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > orthodontic work was to correct this). I'd be very grateful to hear > from anyone who has any knowledge of or experience with this. The removal of the tooth will make no difference. My T also started after a tooth extraction. But it took me a long time to recognise that it was not the tooth but my shoulder muscles that were the problem. from http://eebee.net/dentist.shtml ..... I had a tooth extracted and have had Tinnitus ever since. Two weeks ago I had to return for a filling and was naturally very apprehensive. But it is amazing what a toothache will do. While the dentist was doing what he had to do I decided to observe my body to see what was happening. I noticed that while my hands and legs appeared to be quite relaxed, my shoulders were not. The shoulder muscles were tensing up very strongly, and I felt that I wanted to disappear through the chair, away from the drill. This tension persisted well over a week, even though I knew by now what to do about it. Elly's Tinnitus Resources http://eebee.net/ >I am 49 have had T almost 3 years, it started after the removal of a bad >crown on the same side I have T. The dentist just about ripped my head apart [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >wants to talk about TMJ or helping with my T I hope the removal off the >wisdom tooth tones the T down Elly, would you say that is is potentially linked to muscles not only, or even necessarily in your shoulders, but potentially in your neck, face and jaw too? Some information I received from a state goverment organization suggests that if you have any of the following symptoms from Group A, and any from Group B or Group C then you "should suspect a TMJ disorder". Group A o Clicking, grating or popping in the jaw joint [I get this every now and then and it is loud!] o Pain in and/or around the jaw [I have sore jaw muscles, mainly right side] o Clenching or grinding teeth while you sleep or during the day [my wife says I clench at night] o Difficulty opening your mouth o Difficulty closing your mouth o Jaw locks open or shut o Pain in the teeth o Tired or sore jaw when you wake up o Jaw deviates on opening and closing [mine does this]. Group B o Difficulty swallowing o Muscle soreness or spasms around the head or neck o Ringing in ears [obviously this one applies to most people in this group] o Difficulty hearing o Frequent earaches with no infection present [I get this, but I wouldn't say the pain is more than 2/10] o Headaches of all kinds [again I get this, but only up to 2/10 intensity] o Sinus pain o Pressure behind the eys [I get this on the right side] o Tearing for no reason Group C o Muscle spasms in the neck, shoulder, back, arms or legs [I get a bit of this] o Numbness in arms or fingers o Dizziness [sometimes for me] o Backaches o Difficulty sleeping o Fatigue, nervousness, anger or depression o Arthiritis Obviously a lot of these things could be related to other disorders, but on a personal level 4 hits in group A and a fair showing in Groups B and C would by the definition of the check sheet mean that I should suspect a TMJ disorder. What do you think about this information? This is where I got it sent out from: http://www.tinnitussa.org/ Regards, Wayne. Hi Wayne, I did not have a TMJ problem. If you have any of the problems mentioned then maybe a visit to the dentist is in order. But I always wonder if the neck/shoulder tension actually causes the TMJ. I don't know. Elly's Tinnitus Resources http://eebee.net/ >Elly, would you say that is is potentially linked to muscles not only, >or even necessarily in your shoulders, but potentially in your neck, [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] >Regards, >Wayne. |
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