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.
If you suffer from these problems, there are—fortunately—several things your dentist may be able to do. One of the main reasons your dentist can help you is that tinnitus is generally caused by TMD (temporomandibular disorder). While no one has managed to identify the specific cause of this problem, doctors have identified a few of the individual problems. For example, TMD could be caused by problems like biting or clenching your teeth or by injury to your jaw.
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.
If you are interested in learning more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We are excited to hear from you soon.