Do you hear a ringing in your ears even when there’s no noise around you? How about a buzzing, clicking, hissing, or roaring? If you hear any of these, you might be suffering from tinnitus. Typically, tinnitus is an annoyance, but nothing serious. However, you may also experience trouble sleeping, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, anxiety, depression, and stress. Sadly, this problem is fairly common. In fact, nearly one in five people have tinnitus.

Unfortunately, while you may be able to address these individual symptoms, tinnitus itself is a system not a condition. This means that using remedies for your trouble sleeping, fatigue, or anxiety won’t fix the problem. Fortunately, there may be something your dentist can do to help you deal with the actual problem, because tinnitus may be caused by temporomandibular disorder (TMD). No one is quite sure what causes TMD, but most dentists believe the problem is caused by clenching or grinding your teeth, or by trauma to your jaw. Aside from tinnitus, TMD can lead to a locked jaw or problems moving your jaw side to side or up and down.

If this is your problem, your dentist can offer a few solutions, such as medications that may reduce pain and swelling and relax your jaw—which can help with grinding and clenching—or antidepressants to relieve stress. They may also recommend a splint or night guard which will be custom made for your smile. These appliances are designed to stop you from grinding and clenching. Finally, your dentist may replace or restore certain teeth to balance a bite problem, which can treat TMD and subsequently stop your tinnitus.

To learn more about your options for dealing with TMD and tinnitus, please feel free to contact us soon. We are eager to hear from you.