Chewing Gum and TTTS/Hyperacusis

This past I’ve been feeling like my TTTS and Hyperacusis were getting better until Thursday. I was chewing gum all day and my symptoms got worse throughout the weekend. My ears felt sore and full, my Hyperacusis got a bit worse and my jaw was also hurting.

Is gum known to make symptoms worse?

 

Chewing gum or hard foods can irritate your jaw and cause slight tmj. If you regularly chew hard foods, gums or clench your teeth at night you will develop more severe tmj. The tmj can cause inflammation and swelling which close your eustachian tubes causing ear pressure buildup behind your ears and hyperacusis.

 

@cspc this definitely makes sense. Thank you for replying

 

I was given the advise to chew gum in order to open my closed ets. I already have severe tmj in one side so I didn't did so. I find that my ears unblock and hear better when I eat haha.

 

Have you done anything to treat your TMJ?

 

@cspc

 

No, I got it after I extracted my wisdom teeth in the right side 2 years ago. I developed it on my left side in June 2018, It's more severe also in my right side. I think I have been clenching my teeth in my sleep since end of February/ beginning of March (after I got tinnitus). I don't clench my teeth in the day. The dentist suggested a regular splint to protect the teeth. I would be interested to get a splint that re-trains your jaw to not bite down hard but I don't know where I can get something like this.

 

@cspc I have an impacted wisdom tooth on my lower right side that I’m supposed to get extracted but I’m afraid for the same reason. I don’t want to make my T, H or Jaw worse

 

@Adriel93 Usually my tinnitus and hyperacusis spike when I have some kind of issue with my teeth and jaw. I know what you mean.

 

My T goes up and down as I push my lower jaw forward, and also as I turn my head all the way to the left or right. Usually I can tell what kind of day it's going to be by how loud it is when I push my jaw out. If it's loud, I'm probably going to have a loud day. I also think that my T is strongly related to something in my neck. This morning I woke up at 4am and it was really quiet. I knew I should get out of bed right then and carry on with the day but I fell back asleep for a hour or two and when I woke up it was screaming. I'm a chronic gum chewer. Rarely do I not have gum in my mouth. I before my T went permanent, I'd had ringing on occasion that always went away, usually from a loud noise, but I don't have significant hearing loss. My T started one day when I got out of the shower and a big glob of wax came out of my ear. That was 3 years ago.