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.
However, tinnitus is not actually a condition: it’s a symptom of other problems. This means that treating the individual problems caused by tinnitus may make you feel better temporarily, but will probably not address the root of the problem.
Fortunately, there may be something your dentist can do to help you alleviate this 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 you suffer from TMD, there are a few solutions that might be beneficial for you. For example, medicine might be enough to alleviate your TMD. For example, many medicines may be able to reduce swelling in your jaw, alleviate pain, or even help your jaw relax. Each of these medications can be useful for relieving your TMD. Similarly, your dentist could create a custom appliance that may stop you from grinding or clenching your teeth. In essence, if you can stop your TMD, you can stop your tinnitus.
If you are interested in learning more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We are excited to hear from you soon.
