Dental Work (Including Drilling) & Tinnitus — Questions and Experiences

Why are your parents forcing you? I’m twice your age but can appreciate what it’s like being 17, however believe me, parents don’t always know best, usually they do, but not always.

 

I know that and I'm probably fucked. They don't take my hyperacusis seriously and think it's psychological. Trust me I tried. All I can do now is pray.

 

Stand up politely for yourself mate and explain logically to them why it’s not sensible at this time. If they don’t take it seriously then that’s not your fault but they can’t force you in a literal sense.

 

What is their basis for thinking it’s psychological beyond their own assumptions?

 

I’ve dealt with depression so they think it’s some manifestation of that I guess. And my cousin had TMJ related ear issues so now they think I have TMJ which further reinforces them forcing me to go to the dentist. They’re grasping at every reason why it’s not hyperacusis: stress, depression, health anxiety, Misophonia, TMJ, etc.

 

@weab00 sounds like you are stressing yourself out. My suggested is go, explain to the dentist your problem. They maybe able to work with you. If you fell your making problems ask them to stop.

 

Did you wind up going? If so, how did it go?

 

I wound up going. I told the woman about my ear hypersensitivity but she said she had to use the tool but could put it on the lowest setting. She put some tool against my teeth to clean them and it made this screeching distortion every time it touched them.

I think it set me back a bit because I felt a few minor stabs of pain and a spike afterward. But usually, when I get a big setback I have raw, painfully stabbing ears for hours. So I guess I got "lucky." Supposed to have another cleaning in 6 months, no way in hell I'm going to that one.

I'm angry as shit at my parents right now. Myself too honestly. What's done is done I guess.

 

Sorry to hear you did end up with pain and spiking. Hopefully it doesn’t progress. I haven’t gone to the dentist since developing tinnitus, hyperacusis & TTTS. I really need to go...

 

Can someone help/advise me?

I have overwhelming anxiety right now from possible dental issues.

I went to a friend's place and ate dinner there. Big mistake. I think I should have become a vegetarian or vegan. After some tough meat, my teeth/gums really hurt and are sore.

At the back - molar and gums there?

I am hoping someone knows what can happen. I am really worried and my anxiety is through the roof. I brushed my teeth and flossed. Had quite a bit of blood. Not as bad as if I was punched in the mouth but you know what I mean?

Please advise. I am really worried that I need to see a dentist and then I have the problem of worrying about what any work does to my tinnitus. :-(

 

Brush your teeth regularly and floss.

Only get manual cleaning.

Don't risk complicated dental work. :-(

Look after your teeth so you only need manual/regular cleaning visits. :-(

 

Hello,

I wondered if anyone with hyperacusis and tinnitus had dental work with crown done?

I have an appointment scheduled to have one on a molar (the nearest from my damaged ear), and I already had this tooth devitalized, which involved drilling that made my tinnitus spike and becoming problematic for my work (difficulties to focus and unable to wear a headset to communicate anymore).

My dentist said to me that the hardest work was done, and that the tooth drilling to give the shape for the crown would be less long and painful. However, I have a hard time to trust her because she doesn't seem to really care for my problem and it looks like she's just trying to reassure me. Plus, the drilling for the devitalization seemed way shorter that the 5 minutes necessary for the crown...

I'm afraid that it will be way worse and will give me more problems because I think the drilling is worse for a crown... what should I do?

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

I'm in the same situation and I'm desperate for some advice on this too. I have tinnitus and hyperacusis.

I need a crown also on a tooth close to my ringing side. They say I have a cavity under an old filling. I'm getting a second opinion tomorrow.

@Brice57, I did some researching on here and here's what I found so far:

-There's some posts on here about laser dentistry. I'm surprised I couldn't find one yet in the LA area that can actually do laser drilling yet. A lot of places use lasers for other things like treating gums. Anyone got more info about this?

-The other thing is finding electric instead of air drills. I found some of these but they are for sure all more expensive places. I heard you have to request a lower RPM setting on them too.

-Then there's the drill for 5 seconds and pause for 10. Again, only the most premium dental places seem to even want to entertain this. You'd probably need to block out more time and even pay extra for it.

If you actually find a place that's got all of this, it's for sure going to cost a lot.

A dentist told me that another option is extraction and getting an implant. He said the drilling is less noisy with implants but I've read on here that it's still pretty bad. Did anyone have success with this route?

Anyone know of additional procedures out there that might prevent a permanent increase in tinnitus? Am I missing anything?

And is there any ear protection that might reduce the occlusion effect? Seems like ear protection is generally frowned upon for dental work.

 

I don't suppose your dentist can use laser to prep the tooth for a crown?

 

I just spoke to a premium dental place in LA that has laser drilling but they said they can't use it to remove metal fillings.

They do accommodate the 5 seconds pauses, lower RPMs, and they have electric drills.

They also said that they have to treat TMJ issues in conjunction with crowns and warned me that doing it at other places that don't consider your TMJ might worsen your bite. Not sure if they are trying to sell me something extra.

My tinnitus came after syringing but I did put off using a nightguard for 2 years since a dentist first told me they spotted grinding so there maybe something to this TMJ thing. Anyone know if it's a good idea to tackle both these issues together?

 

Thanks for you answer Mr Orange, I think i'm going to do the extraction + implant option. In fact I asked specifically for this but my dentist refused. I said I discussed with people who have the same problem as me, she said you must not talk to other people, only me... She never really listens to me and is very incisive, I'm starting to have a hard time trusting her.

I'll try to find a dentist in Luxembourg or France that does the laser drill or "electric" drill as you said, and will go for the implant if I can't find...

I have no idea for your problem though, sorry. But for the laser thing, my dentist told me that it can only be used for gums, and I read somewhere that the only machines able to cut through a tooth are very expansive (>100k) and so very rare...

Btw this forum is cool, finally a place with a lot of content about tinnitus even of precise subjet like this, and also it is insanely fast

 

I would recommend not using the ultrasonic cleaning tool. People with pacemakers might at risk, from ultrasonic cleaning machines, and dental hygienists usually accommodate this by performing a manual cleaning. If they give you a hard time about the manual cleaning, I would mention this in the office. You could change dentists, there's plenty and they all charge about the same.

 

Brice57. I remembering reading about some complications on the extraction implant route too even in regards to it affecting their tinnitus. My dentist does say the drilling is less noisy though. Do some reading on these boards about that route too.

Let me know what you find out about and how it goes. I know it's expensive but I'm even considering this route too.

I talked to a dental place that said they could do a combination of using a quiet electric drill (to remove the old filling) and also a technique called microabrasion which is like an air/sand blaster. He said that's quieter than the drill. I'm going to look into this some more. This seems to be my best option so far.

I got a second opinion today on my potential cavity area. This second dentist suggested not getting a crown. He was more comprehensive and did lot more tests looking into the mouth than the previous dentist. The images do look like there's a darker spot near the filling but we both agreed that there's many other similar looking dark spots on nearby teeth. It's not that clear.

I'm in a tough spot because if my cavity does happen to spread quickly and get to the center, then I'd need a root canal + a crown. Which is even more drilling. He said certain dentists would try to get ahead of it early instead. He suggested getting an x-ray in another 3 months, using a strong toothpaste and mouthwash, and avoiding any sugar in the meantime to delay the progress of the cavity.

Anyone else have experience with x-ray cavity detection where it's hard to tell what's really going on?

 

From what I found, it appears that the tool using the electric technology is called a contra-angle.

I phoned a dentist and talked to him briefly about this, he told me that every dentist use the same air compressed tool (which is false) and that there's nothing else which exists...

I remember someone advised me to call dentists, talk about my problem and to see from there, but it appears that people like us should'nt trust dentist at all and only do research by themself ...

I had another dentist earlier that talked to me about the contra-angle, I didn't realize that it was the tool I need (corresponding to electric drill technology), but unfortunaly he doesn't do crown sbecause he's specialized in devitalizations with microscope.

I'll try to call several dental center next week and ask them if they're equipped with contra-angle and can use them at a slow speed.

 

I'll call around asking about the contra-angle tool as well.

From calling up a bunch of dental places this past week, I've got stumbled across some more questions:

1) At least 3 of the more premium dental offices seem to be okay with the 'drilling and pausing' precautions and blocking out extra time. In contrast to this, I called one particular dental place and they actually said that if you do pauses like that, you risk spreading the cavity to the root and may end up needing a root canal. Anyone have feedback on this?

2) Brice57, I'm curious if you find that the extraction/implant route also has many different quality options (like air drills vs electric for crowns) that may help reduce noise, vibration, or even any other types of problems. Can anyone here help point us in the right direction to the 'best of the best' when it comes to the extraction/implant route.

3) I show early signs of teeth grinding. I don't have a custom dental night guard yet. One potential thing to rule out for my tinnitus is the TMJ issue. At least 2 of the more premium dental places have mentioned that simply getting a crown without consideration to your bite/TMJ is a bad idea and may exacerbate the issue. They suggest tackling both issues simultaneously? Is this good advice or are they trying to sell me something extra?

4) The night guard seems like the most popular TMJ treatment? Some dentists told me that this is actually antiquated. Is this true?

5) My potential cavity is under an old mercury filling. A few of the premium dental places really try to sell me on their safe mercury removal protocols which they say is a crucial safety measure. Is this something that's widely acknowledged as a good idea?

 

Concerning the mercury filling, it's quite hard to say because the mercury effects are very difficult to analyze, however it's almost certain/proved that breathing mercury vapor has effect on the central nervous system (brain) but the effects are difficult to evaluate and very disparate (there appear to be for example a correlation between the average IQ and exposition to mercury, it affects the cognition and increases the possibility of having mental illness and a lot of problems..., plus memory, moods problems, etc)

Personally, 7 years ago, I had mercury fillings that I wanted to get rid off, and I don't know if things have evolved since or if things are slower in France (very likely ..) but at the time I had to personnally search and find someone practitionning safe protocols, dentists didn't even know about the issue and looked at me weirdly when I talked about the mercury thing whereas now they seem to be forbidden in Europe.

For the extraction/implant thing, I don't really know, but I know a dentist (that doesn't do implants but only devitalization / extraction) that is very comprehensive, that is okay to try to not break the tooth while extracting it, and if it breaks that will do the minimum of sound. He's the one that talked to me about the contra-angle, but charges much higher prices (he takes his time to do things properly, like 2 o 3 times longer appointment to do the work)

I'm still hesitating too between extraction and finding a practitionner that use contra-angle at a slow speed...

 

The place I found does seem to service the safe mercury removal along with the slow speed.

I'm just not sure if these dentists are just trying to pile onto your bill. One place suggested I also add a comprehensive TMJ treatment to all of this too.

 

Drilling noise is worse than manual cleaning noise. Right?

I think the procedure to request is: 5 second drill, 10 second pause, right?

Last time, I recall being told about two different drills. How do you know which one to request? I dunno if they are contra angle. I never heard of that. What if they're both?

I had the dentist try them both in front of me and I couldn't tell the difference in terms of sound volume. I think the revolutions were different.

My dentist office called because they had a cancelation. Need a filling and said I could go in tomorrow. :-(

I have about 3 mercury fillings to remove and replace with the composite resin at a later date. Really worried about this especially the upcoming one. :-(

 

PeteJ, yes the manual cleaning (called hand scaling) has much less noise because it's just them using a pick and scraping your teeth. I was told there's even a deep cleaning version of hand scaling. However, for me, they did have to apply this polish in the end with the drill. That part was short though and not much vibration. I do wonder if they can avoid that part too.

Yes, the 5 second drill, 10 second pause seems to be a common recommendation on here.

I've got a question about your mercury fillings PeteJ. Did the dentist actually find cavities underneath all of them or do those things just eventually hit an expiration date?

 

Yesterday, I had a root canal on a molar. This was something I was very nervous about due to the use of drills.

Well, I'm happy to report that it went fine. I used ear muffs, the dentist was very understanding about my circumstances, and I estimate that my tooth was only drilled for a little under three minutes, with breaks in between (and this with me forgetting to mention the classic "Five seconds on, ten seconds off" rule.")

My tinnitus is higher pitched and fluctuates its volume at the time of this writing. It's not unbearable and I'm confident it'll go back to baseline.

That being said, I still need to get a crown done.

I have an appointment with a different, (cheaper) dentist #2 on the 20th for the crown. A part of me just wants to go and get all this dental crap, which has been a huge stressor lately, over with. But I'm also worried that it's maybe too soon and my tinnitus needs time to settle down more. Furthermore, I can't guarantee that dentist #2 will be as understanding.

Should I reschedule the appointment to a later date, or should I stick to it?

I'm taking NAC, Magnesium, and I've been prescribed 500 mg Amoxicillin, if that matters.

 

Any news on your dental work?

I also have to go to the dentist and I am afraid that this will cause a new spike.

 

I had a temp crown put on. No spike. And the spike from the root canal has faded.

 

Perfect!

Did you use noise-cancelling earbuds at the dentist?

From what I've heard, earplugs are not an option because of the occlusion effect.

 

I used earmuffs.

 

Could you please tell which exact model of earmuffs you used? Have you tried different ones before (at dentist procedures)?

Also, how much NAC and Magnesium do/did you take?