My Mouthguard Diary (My Bite Is Misaligned, Suspected Bruxism)

[MuffinMan]

It's being suspected that I have bruxism, the arguments that support this hypothesis are:

- My bite is not aligned, according to dentist that may lead to bruxism.
- My tinnitus started first time when I woke up from a very intense nightmare, it spikes every time after a nightmare. Bruxism often happens worst during intense dreams.
- It has been confirmed that my brother has bruxism, and TMJ as well, so a genetic trait is possible. My brother has had tinnitus since a year ago.
- Twice, woke up with a bitten tongue on its side, it was bleeding a bit.

The arguments against:
- The audiograms show a very tiny hearing loss at 4 kHz, which could be enough to cause noise-induced tinnitus






- A few times my tinnitus spiked very badly in the middle of the day after eating a salty meal/thing! On last Thursday I ate cheese that turned out to be very salty, I didn't even finish it, after one hour it spiked so badly that it kept me awake all night; but next day it got silent after I cut off salt completely ever since.

- Vessel due F + Melatonin 5mg seems to make it lower.

- I have tinnitus only in one ear 95% of times, but occasionally it "switches places" especially if I wake up at night, very strange. Dentist said it is possible that bruxism causes tinnitus in one ear though.


So..... I got my mouthguard yesterday, so it was my first night with mouth gear.

Day 1: very gentle tinnitus humming, only audible in total silence...


Let's see if it's just coincidence... only time can tell.

 

[glynis]

@MuffinMan,
It can take a few weeks for your mouth guard give you the full benefit from wearing it.
love glynis

 

[MuffinMan]

@MuffinMan,
It can take a few weeks for your mouth guard give you the full benefit from wearing it.
love glynis

Yes I know, we will see.

 

[MuffinMan]

Day 2:
I woke up on 5 am, I felt the usual high pitch T in my right ear but it was very faint; like a mere ghost of its former self. Then I slept again till 9 am; and the T sound was even less audible.
Spent all day later out, T felt gone during all day; It's 7:20 pm the time I am writing this post and I still don't feel it. When I go to my very silent bedroom I only hear a very... very faint "humming" sound, it feel so "far"; hard to describe but it's not the high pitch kettle whistling.

I so wish this is not temporary.

 

[sky_high]

My bite is not aligned, according to dentist that may lead to bruxism.

@MuffinMan How is your bite not aligned? left / right or bottom / up?

My bite is also not perfectly aligned, the lower teeth in normal resting position are a bit behind the ones above (I think it's called an overbite). I would appreciate this at about 2mm distance. Is your misalignment worse than this?

Also is a dentist able to confirm bruxism or it's just an assumption? Nonetheless it's nice that the mouth guard is having results for you . I should maybe visit my dentist...

 

[uae96]

If you're in a silent room and you barely hear tinnitus, why are you worried if it's temporary or not?

I was like you when I got my tinnitus in 2015. I had it extremely low but my anxiety got the worst of me and I got obsessed trying to find a cure.

I only started getting much better and almost cured when I stopped logging in the forum and searching about tinnitus om google, up until I was stupid enough to be reckless again and not use earplugs in extremely loud situations such as water sports and some music lounges.

I think it's best that if you stay here for a few weeks, gather as much information as you can and leave the forum and don't ever obsess about the volume anymore because I'm telling you, you will get worse if you're that obsessive, because any increase will mentally destroy you.

Good luck with your mouth guard.

 

[MuffinMan]

@MuffinMan How is your bite not aligned? left / right or bottom / up?

My bite is also not perfectly aligned, the lower teeth in normal resting position are a bit behind the ones above. I would appreciate this at about 2mm distance. Is your misalignment worse than this?

Also is a dentist able to confirm bruxism or it's just an assumption? Nonetheless it's nice that the mouth guard is having results for you . I should maybe visit my dentist...

If the bruxism was taking place for a long time then yes; a good dentist can confirm it; usually he or she can tell if there's any damaged teeth due to grinding the teeth. That was the case of my brother, dentist was totally confident that he has bruxism; as I said earlier my brother got his T since a year ago and he was caught one time of grinding his teeth during sleep.

As for my case; the dentist couldn't tell since he didn't find any traces of damage; I am new to T so maybe I am new to bruxism too; but he said my bite is so misaligned and so bruxism is so likely.
I think my bite is misaligned way more than 2 mmm, there's at least 5 mm from what i can tell on mirror, and it's worst on the right side.

 

[MuffinMan]

Also note that I am on medication and strict diet: Vessel due F + Melantonin
No salt no caffeine at all.

I have been eating some sugary stuff these two days and didn't notice any difference; but the salty things affect me the most, the last time I tried salty stuff caused me a whole night nightmare spike.

 

[MuffinMan]

Btw there is a whole body of researches on the link between hearing loss and bruxism! Yes bruxism (and of course tmj problems) may cause some hearing loss.
https://www.hiddenhearing.ie/blog/is-hearing-loss-related-to-teeth-grinding/

So that means even if your audiogram shows a mild hearing loss; that doesn't rule out the bruxism/tmj possibility.


btw my mouthguard is an upper set only.

 

[MuffinMan]

If you're in a silent room and you barely hear tinnitus, why are you worried if it's temporary or not?

I was like you when I got my tinnitus in 2015. I had it extremely low but my anxiety got the worst of me and I got obsessed trying to find a cure.

I only started getting much better and almost cured when I stopped logging in the forum and searching about tinnitus om google, up until I was stupid enough to be reckless again and not use earplugs in extremely loud situations such as water sports and some music lounges.

I think it's best that if you stay here for a few weeks, gather as much information as you can and leave the forum and don't ever obsess about the volume anymore because I'm telling you, you will get worse if you're that obsessive, because any increase will mentally destroy you.

Good luck with your mouth guard.

It's because I went through a silent week before (before having my mouthguard) then it spiked for another whole week. That's why I am still not so sure if my current T reduction (almost elimination) is due to mouthguard, the medications i mentioned and no salt diet; time will tell.

I don't think I am here due to anxiety, not anymore at least; I understand your concern and you are right, but I am here now to tell others about my medication/treatment; maybe it will help others; I am here with the "I wanna help others" mindset instead of "omg I wanna stop my T at all cost" mindset; if you know what I mean.

 

[sky_high]

Also note that I am on medication and strict diet: Vessel due F + Melantonin
No salt no caffeine at all.

Yes I remember a couple of weeks ago when you mentioned this medicine. Thanks for the info. Unfortunately they do not have this Vessel due F in Germany where I am currently living, but I see it's available in Romania (where I am from) so I might try to get a prescription for it next time I visit. Melatonin you can find everywhere.

What is the exact dosage for these two medications that you are taking? Also, is this Vessel due F over the counter medicine in Lebabon?

 

[MuffinMan]

Yes I remember a couple of weeks ago when you mentioned this medicine. Thanks for the info. Unfortunately they do not have this Vessel due F in Germany where I am currently living, but I see it's available in Romania (where I am from) so I might try to get a prescription for it next time I visit. Melatonin you can find everywhere.

What is the exact dosage for these two medications that you are taking? Also, is this Vessel due F over the counter medicine in Lebanon?

It is over the counter here.

Dosage for Vessel is: 1 pill in the morning, 1 pill at night; not to be taken with food.

Melantonin: 3mg or 5mg pill before bedtime. On bad days I take the 5mg.


Vessel is sulodexide; so maybe you have it as different brands in your country.

 

[MuffinMan]

Day 3: Very faint T in the morning when I woke up on 5 am, then slept again till 7, woke up again with no T.

No T during work till up to 3:30/4 when i decided to eat those sunbites crackers which have salt, I felt a faint yet clearly audible just half hour after eating them; I took then a sugarless cacao drink (even tho I noticed that sugary food don't affect me, but salty things do big time) and it went away again, cacao seems to help my blood pressure.

Now I am hearing a very very faint T while laying down in the silent bedroom.

I may write again after few days.

 

[Jack Straw]

If your T is barely audible in silent rooms, I highly suggest you just move on with your life and not obsess over it. Get a white noise machine when you sleep if it is causing you distress.

If you are posting to help other users by posting your progress than you are a saint, but don't let tinnitus run your life if it is barely audible.

 

[glynis]

@MuffinMan ,
Glad to hear your mouth guard is helping.
love glynis

 

[MuffinMan]

So it has been more than a week since i last update this thread, i recall it spiked on day 4 a bit, but since day 5 till now, my T is barely audible during the day.

I am still taking Vessel Due F twice a day (1 pill on morning and one at night) + 1 pill Melatonin at night. I am always putting the mouthguard when i am in bed.

What's so weird about everything tho, that i feel it at most in the very early morning , in most days I am waking up on 4 - 5 am , this is the time of the day when I hear my T the most nowadays, then I sleep again till 7 am, I wake up and brush my teeth, clean my moutherguard and get prepared for work ...etc , this is when my T subsides to a barely audible level and then I take my morning dosage of Vessel Due F at work around 10 am.

I noticed that I can still voluntary hear it when I lay down on my right side in total silence tho, but I am avoiding to do so in order to train my brain.

 

[MuffinMan]

I consider my case a success so far, I really hope it remains so and I hope that it may help someone here.

 

[MuffinMan]

I am often waking up very thirsty, like with an extremely dry mouth, I've read this may be a sign of sleep apnea.

Anyway, I woke up at 4 am (as usual for some unknown reason no matter how late I sleep) with a very dry mouth, so I removed my mouthgear and put it on a tissue on night stand, just after half hour of sleeping again I woke up shockingly again at the very moment while my jaws doing a strong bite motion with a loud bite sound, I could feel as if something hit my teeth - it seems the bite sound woke me up, this happened few times before I started wearing the mouthgear but this time I heard it clearly. This confirms that I do have this brusxim thing.

Also I can confirm that salt is the main culprit of causing my spikes - I've been avoiding salt like the plague lately but i ate salty things at times accidentally and it ALWAYS caused me temporary spikes, like the other day when I ate a sandwich ordered from a restaurant and happened to have pickles; just 20 mins after the meal and my T spiked insanely, the spike lasted for two days.
I was taking only Vessel during that time without melatonin (I stopped melatonin for a while because I heard it affects the male hormone negatively and may causes manboobs), but I took it again on the 2nd day of spike (alongside with the Vessel Due F) and the spike totally disappeared in the next morning, not sure if it's a coincidence, but I am doing this every time when there's a spike after an accidentally salty consumption and it's working.

At that very moment while writing this post, I barely hear any T.

 

[MuffinMan]

The last week till Thursday was a bad week: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-girlfriend-kissed-on-ear-—-little-spike-next-day.32453/

On thursday night it was one of those "hell spike" night when I can't sleep before 5 am or so ; I've taken supplements of zinc and magnesium; the next morning it was still ringing but less loudly, I 've taken a half day off and slept from 5 pm to 8 pm, ate a little (no salt) and slept early again at 10 pm till next day, I went to work and noticed my T disappeared completely.

To this moment, there's no T, but it may back again, this totally disappearance happened twice before, and it lasts few days to a week. Very strange.

 

[Lilah]

Will wearing a mouth guard at night help somatic tinnitus even if I do not have TMJ/bite issues? (dentist said most likely not). I do clench sometimes.

My thinking is if it will relax the jaw area, and since the jaw area is near the ears, it should help the tinnitus even if other parts of my body contribute to somatic symptoms (neck, etc.). In other words, it matters less the somatic symptoms caused by other parts of my body as long as the closest muscles near my ears are relaxed.

 

[Melanie1019]

The last week till Thursday was a bad week: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-girlfriend-kissed-on-ear-—-little-spike-next-day.32453/

On thursday night it was one of those "hell spike" night when I can't sleep before 5 am or so ; I've taken supplements of zinc and magnesium; the next morning it was still ringing but less loudly, I 've taken a half day off and slept from 5 pm to 8 pm, ate a little (no salt) and slept early again at 10 pm till next day, I went to work and noticed my T disappeared completely.

To this moment, there's no T, but it may back again, this totally disappearance happened twice before, and it lasts few days to a week. Very strange.

Hi. I know this is pretty old, but how is your tinnitus now since you've been wearing the mouthguard? Just wondering because my Dentist said I may have tinnitus due to clenching my jaw. I hope to hear from you.

 

[Mister Muso]

My tinnitus is definitely noise induced, but my dentist and ENT doc have both confirmed I have bruxism. Will wearing a mouthguard have any benefit towards my tinnitus? I can't see how it could reverse the damage to hairs/cells caused by acoustic trauma.

 

[HeavyMantra]

My T is definitely noise induced, but my dentist and ENT doc have both confirmed I have bruxism. Will wearing a mouthguard have any benefit towards my T? I can't see how it could reverse the damage to hairs/cells caused by acoustic trauma.

Probably not, but grinding them down is a problem in itself. I can only chew on one side now. wish I had known I was grinding in my sleep earlier

 

[Star64]

My tinnitus is definitely noise induced, but my dentist and ENT doc have both confirmed I have bruxism. Will wearing a mouthguard have any benefit towards my tinnitus? I can't see how it could reverse the damage to hairs/cells caused by acoustic trauma.

Bruxism is one of the primary causes of Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorder, or TMD, and can lead to a host of other, unwanted side effects, including tinnitus.

 

[Bunny_Lover1230]

@Star64 and with proper treatment is there a chance it will go away if tmd is the cause?

 

[Star64]

@Star64 and with proper treatment is there a chance it will go away if tmd is the cause?

Yes there is a very good chance if the underlying problem is resolved and managed correctly..