Long Time Sufferer New Here - Entering TMJ Treatment

Sorry for the length, but here's my full T story if any cares to read.

I've been suffering from T since 2006, when it started out of the blue after a stressful weekend of my basement flooding. At first it was extremely loud and depression and anxiety certainly made it worse. Over the years I have grown to ignore it and barely notice it all. I have what I call bad weeks here and there, but generally speaking I had fully habituated my T.

My family Dr initially prescribed Sudafed and Nasonex for several months, then referral to an ENT who told me to just live with it. So I did just that. Periodically at night my steady low level ringing, a .5 on a 10 scale, would have a new sound. This new sound was a 9 or 10 high pitched squeal. It would come in small internals, squeal... squeal... Then get closer to together squeal squeal squeal. I found that I could make it go faster by clenching my jaw or pressing my tongue to the top of my mouth. It was annoying but always gone the next morning after finally falling asleep, and occurred so rarely I didn't want to deal with another ENT.

Fast forward to this past September, that squeal started visiting me during the day and I found by clenching my jaw together or opening my mouth wide I could STOP the squeal momentarily, control it. My family had found an ENT we really enjoyed working with for my children who have had tubes and tonsil issues. I decided to visit him. He immediately perked up and told me he knows exactly what's occurring, I have a TMJ disorder... TMD. A referral to a... dentist was in order.

Not just any dentist however, a specialist who deals specifically in neuromuscular dentistry. I had never heard of the temporomandibular joint or neuromuscular dentistry, but after reading a bit and looking at a few biology books it started to make sense. I also suffer from an undiagnosed lump in my neck, or feeling of something being lodged there when I swallow.

Today I visited the TMJ Dr. who did an initial evaluation of my jaw. He confirmed that my bite is terrible, pulling backwards and causing stress on my jaw muscles. I have very little left to right movement, which would indicate the left side of jaw muscles are locking up or extremely stiff. He feels very confident that TMD is at least contributing to my tinnitus, and almost certainly causing the high pitched squeal sensation controlled by jaw movements.

In two weeks I will undergo Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation (TENS) and a CT Scan of my jaw to determine structural makeup of my TMJ issue and find an ideal resting location. This should confirm, hopefully, TMD. A fitting for a mouth piece will be done as well. I will then wear a mouth piece for 8 weeks, it should force relief of the jaw and hopefully habituate the muscles into the correct resting position. The Dr. fully expects my tinnitus to be either gone or severely reduced at that time.

In addition to the tinnitus I have suffered from an odd feeling of a foreign object lodged on the left side of my throat that 3 ENT's have been unable to diagnose. Apparently this too is a somewhat common symptom of TMJ disorders.

I'm at this point skeptical, but the science seems to fit my symptoms and I'm willing to spend some money on what is a low (no?) risk process to see if it helps at all.

Has ANYONE here had similar symptons (variable squeals controlled with jaw and/or lump in throat) and gone through TMD treatments?

 

What did your original tinnitus sound like and under what conditions could you hear it, or not...?

Thanks

 

When I open my jaw or clench it or push my lower jaw inwards my T would squeal to a very high pitch, or if I move my tongue sideways always on the right not the left it would also become high...keep us posted of your progress...incidentally I have dental braces which I started last November 2011 my T started August 1, 2012. I suspect TMJ/D contributed to my T (My T is most probably noise induced-cumulative use of earphones with music too loud)anyway, I will be taking the braces off by the end of the year.