Tinnitus Caused by Braces

[Estella]

Im 18 years old and I've had braces for about a year and a half now, I'd never had tinnitus before but about 3-4 weeks after my braces were put on I suddenly noticed a ringing in my left ear that would not go away, I have it in both ears but its a lot louder in my left ear. I panicked but my parents said it was probably from the pressure of the braces and would most likely go away as I don't have any kind of hearing loss. Weeks turned into months, its been over a year now and I still have prominent tinnitus that really affects the quality of my life, its hard to ignore at night and even in semi quiet rooms I can distinguish it. If I'm not busy I go crazy, I can't read, I find it really hard to do anything thats in any sort of silence. I went to the doctor twice the first time he said it was just something I have to live with which I think is odd because its not related to hearing loss so its got to be something else right? The second time I went he prescribed me with a steroid nasal spray which did utterly nothing, to be honest I think it actually made it worse.

About seven months ago I had six teeth removed for my orthodontic treatment, four wisdom teeth and two upper canines. This was probably the worst experience of my life and now I'm left with a TMJ disorder, the right side of my jaw is dropped like they stretched the ligaments when they were taking out my wisdom teeth? I had X-rays done and my whole jaw is crooked. Even when my mouth is closed and when my teeth are together my jaw is still on an angle. I have X-rays from just before the teeth were taken out and my jaw was perfectly straight I went back to the man who took my teeth out and he said "In the 30 years that I've been doing this Ive never seen anything like this happen, It must be your braces causing the jaw slant." Even showing him the before and after X-rays he wouldn't take any form or responsibility and was adamant it couldn't be from him removing my teeth. Not only is it aesthetically unpleasing to have it look like your bottom teeth are super crooked (which they are not) I now have jaw clicking and popping constantly, pain, and restricted movement. The TMJ has also made my tinnitus worse.

Im really close to getting my braces off, Im wondering if there is anyone who's tinnitus has gotten better once their braces have come off? Could I have had pre existing jaw issues and the braces made it worse and caused the tinnitus? I just think its weird that it started pretty much as soon as I got my braces on.

Thanks for taking the time to read this
Estella

 

[Rube]

Hi @Estella you might want to read this thread and have a maxillofacial surgeon examine you.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/it-wasnt-tmj-it-was-just-a-misaligned-jaw.3858/

 

[uae96]

@Estella Definitely could be from the Braces if 3 -4 weeks after you got t , that's how long it takes for the teeth to actually start moving to they're new places , 6 teeth removed !! Wow that's a lot , honestly I don't think they'll be any difference when you remove you're braces t will get better cause I had them removed half way cause I thought it was from my braces and got a jaw splint for Tmj , so far nothing no change on my tinnitus ,
(I don't have hearing loss , and I'm 19) so we kind of relate to our t

 

[bellz456]

Hey, I had braces 2 years back when I was 20 years old, but I didn't have tinnitus after putting them. My dentist Dr. Todd in Whitby told me sometime I may have tinnitus and have given me gabapentin tablet to take if I have them, but there was no problem for me. Was your teeth too crowded or was there any other problem for extracting 6 teeth? My dentist extracted 4 teeth and I think it's common. Anyway, just send your pic after getting your braces off. I think you may have tinnitus just after you take those braces out, but it will be fine after a few days.

 

[Vlad]

I think I got a T because of the braces. There were other reasons. Perhaps I was too old for that (I'm 39), besides my nervous system is not perfect. Two weeks after installation, I heard a faint whistle on the left side of the head. Another two weeks later, I took off the braces, but the noise in my head kept and ruined my life. If the dentist had warned about such serious side effects, I would have refused to put braces. Soorry for my bad English.

 

[svg1204]

right know im seeing a tmj specialist, because the 27th of July i had a root canal done, and on sep 4 thats when my T started, i have ruled out hearing damage since i've seen two ents and a audiologist, now here is the kicker i saw a dentist on thursday that told me the root canal was not done properly there is a feather thin opening on the crown and is not seated properly, now when i press down with my finger on the crown or side left side my T sound goes up.

im gonna ask to have the tooth removed, im done with root canals im not getting braces im not risking hight or more T anymore.

 

[Estella]

So I've had my braces removed and all its done is changed the pitch of my T it hasn't gotten better its actually spiked and made it a bit worse. I've had the braces off for a month and bait now, I have a retainer on my upper and lower teeth (the plastic ones) and Ive found the weirdest thing. If I don't wear my retainer at night Ill wake up with a super loud high frequency in my left ear, ill put my retainers back in go back to sleep and that super loud high frequency goes away when I wake back up, do you get this @uae96 ?

 

[Anna-Marie]

I started wearing invisalign braces last September, I had over crowding in my lower jaw, I am 41 and I think they were getting worse with age, My tinnitus started in October as a whizzing air sound in my right ear, only when I moved from up to down, ie. getting out of bed, which makes me think its muscular, from gripping my jaw whilst wearing the retainers all day. I've been to see an ENT specialist who has checked everything else which is completely normal, so I know the reason can only be the movement of my teeth and wearing Braces. I am hoping that it will improve once my treatment finishes and I plan on getting my jaw and head realised as I can feel overbuilt muscles since wearing the Brace. I feel happier now that I know that everything has been checked, both the orthodontist and the ENT specialist won't say it was definitely the Brace but I KNOW.

 

[Scardeycat]

I've had Invisalign for six months and when I finished my treatment none of my bite was right. I agreed to have another 13 trays to sort it out, but on the last two trays I started getting ringing in my left ear. It took me a while to realise it was actually my ear as it was just at night at first... now it is 24/7.
I also have a dull ache in my left ear with it. I went to ENT & they've said ear is perfect & there's nothing wrong with it. They said it might just be my age why my ear is playing up. But I think it's my braces as they've moved my teeth a lot on that side and pushed my teeth back without removing my wisdom tooth. Figures really if they're pushing teeth back in my mouth but I've got an impacted wisdom tooth there then there's going to be unwanted pressure. Or, it's just the movement of my teeth full stop.

Did anybody get better? Did it fade over time? Did anybody's T go away after they'd finished treatment?

I'm scared to even get my mouth cleaned now....

 

[DirM]

Just as a counter point, I was put in braces to relieve my T, which has gone down because of them.

The issue is not where your teeth are or the braces themselves, but how your jaw is aligned, especially how far the end of your jaw bone is coming into your head. Put your hand in front of your ear and open and close your mouth and you'll feel your tm joint (TMJ) moving.

The end of your jaw bone goes into a socket there (condyle), and on the other side of that socket is your inner ear. It's all crammed together there. If the end of that jawbone is really jammed into the socket, it can press on the inner ear (or in my case bruxism may have deteriorated the whole area after decades).

You need to make sure that ball/socket is not too close together due to your bite. If you "underbite" that relieves the joint. So what they did in my case is realign my teeth so they come together sooner, pulling the jaw forward. Orthos will not check for this so you should see a TMJ specialist.