Noise-Cancelling Headphones for Dentist Filling?

I’m due to have some dental fillings later on this evening.

Many posts have been made on this subject, with the main advice being don’t wear earplugs or earmuffs to avoid the occlusion effect, and get the dentist to drill 10 second on 10 second off.

However, has anyone ever worn noise-cancelling headphones when getting dental fillings done? Would you still get the occlusion effect as they’re not tight to your ears, but might take a little bit of the sting of the drill away?

Got the appointment in a couple hours so would appreciate your thoughts.

 

No, you don’t get that occlusion effect with them. They helped. Also I was shocked how quiet the drill was anyway. Unless your ears are totally destroyed or reactive, it isn’t much to worry about. Hearing the drill through your bones is also hardly louder than your own voice in earplugs.

I think the drills are a lot quieter these days than 15 years ago.

 

Thank you. That’s really reassuring. They want to do all 3 fillings in one long session. Do you think I should avoid that as not to be exposed for that long or it’s really not that bad?

 

My wife is a dentist, so I know a few things about the situation: they have different drills they can use. Usually, the loudest high-pitched ones are the ones that are the most efficient, as they take less time to drill. But they have others they can use. Ask him/her about it explaining your case and making sure they use the drills that are more bearable.

 

I just tried my electric toothbrush in my mouth with and without my noise-cancelling headphones on and it does appear to sound a lot louder in my head with the noise-cancelling headphones... might just be my model of headphones but it does seem to be some kind of occlusion effect happening, so unsure if to wear them or not.

 

How did it go in the end?

 

Just got back.

The dentist drilling is not loud imo, not loud enough to cause a spike. The vibrations however are bothersome and you can feel and hear them in your head and in your ears. He used a very thick drill and it was upper back wisdom tooth so the vibrations were very close to my ear but I don’t think it’ll cause any damage. Ears seem fine. He said the cavity was a lot deeper than he thought so had to do a lot of drilling. I didn’t mention the 10 second on, 10 second off rule to him but I don’t think he drilled for anymore than 10-15 seconds anyway.

If anyone is concerned about the noise, I wouldn’t be, it’s pretty moderate, but the vibrations might be bothersome.

All in all nowhere near as bad as I thought. Have to go back for two more in a couple weeks and not nervous or worried about them at all.

 

Good to hear. I assume that that you don't have hyperacusis.

 

I do actually. Just not as bad as when I first had it. When I first had it, I could barely endure a normal conversation. Nowadays only certain noises trigger pain like dogs barking etc but I’d say it’s ranged in severity from a 1 to a 3/10. For example, after my MRI a few months it triggered it up to a 6-7/10 but usually it recedes back to its manageable baseline. I don’t have to wear earplugs doing day to day to activities anymore so I’d say it’s fairly mild. The tinnitus barely bothers me tbh. I protect my ears to avoid spiking my hyperacusis. Hyperacusis is a different beast compared to tinnitus imo.

 

I have reactive tinnitus and am very concerned because I need to have a root canal. Don't know how I will be able to get through it.

 

NAC up beforehand and explain to the doctor ahead of time your situation. Don't be afraid to ask to take breaks. I had a crown done one time and had to have the doctor stop for like 5 minutes while I paced around the office a bit.

Lots of people say no hearing protection at the dentist, and I used to do that, but now I wear maximum hearing protection. It will make the "sound in your head" a lot louder but at least you don't have all the sounds of the suction and the highest pitches of the drill will be lessened by the protection/bone conduction.

As long as you're not in an acute highly sensitive recent spike phase, you will probably be ok. Not saying you won't get a small increase but it'll probably be manageable and go away. The pain from needing a root canal is one of a few things I would rate as worse than a tinnitus spike so don't be shy.

 

The drill is indeed not that loud. The suction tube is imo. You didn't feel that way?

 

I need my upper wisdom tooth removed.

The guy I have says he always "sections". It is 10 minutes of drilling and removal.

Since the tooth is up the back, it is closer to the ear, and recently, I had to stop a dentist doing ultrasonic since the noise was so loud on the teeth at the back...

Is a drill less noise? I am worried. The alternative is going under a general anesthetic. But here the issue is they use "air powered" drills in hospitals and they are apparently way noisier!

Conductive hearing is the problem here, I could wear headphones, but I doubt they make any difference...

I suspect drilling noise is very dependent on location of the tooth, since ultrasonic at the front teeth was ok.

 

Mine was at the back wisdom tooth on the left hand side on the top. So probably as close to the ear as possible.

The drill is not too loud, I promise. I thought it would be worse but it wasn’t too bad at all.

The vibrations are kinda bad but still not awful or uncomfortable for me personally. Ask if you can do 15 second bursts and it will be manageable.

 

Louder than the drill yes but still wasn’t uncomfortable for me personally. It’s only loud when they put it in your mouth which again is only like 5-10 seconds every now and then, similar to the drilling. She took it out when it wasn’t needed in there.

 

All the preparation I made when I went to the dentist and it was the suction tube that got me. I was not prepared for it.

 

Same here. The electric hand drill is really not loud. The suction tube is the problem for me. I posted my experience with the laser for cavities three days ago. There I was able to protect myself from the suction tube with hearing protection. Otherwise i would end up with another permanent worsening.

My Experience with Laser Dental Drill for Cavities

 

So you recommend using earplugs and earmuffs for the whole treatment? As opposed to not using protection to avoid the occlusion effect?

 

For laser, yes, use both. For normal drill, I'd say drill without earmuffs. Suction in between with earmuffs. Annoying to put on and off though. If you are not sensitive to the frequency/decibel of the suction, I don't think the handpiece drill (electric) is too loud. If you do not have access to laser, I'd ask the suction to be at the bare minimum. Preferably no suction during the drill even though you will get lots of water in your mouth. As soon as the drill is done, earmuffs on for the actual filling as they use some suction to keep the mouth dry.

 

Wow, I didn't realize the suction tube could potentially be hazardous! How loud would that be?

I just had a manual cleaning the other day and I only put an earplug in one of my ears. I have a slight spike in the other ear but I dismissed it as being random and it possibly could be. I found the suction tube to be slightly loud when in the mouth but not something I would have consider damaging.

 

There is a new paper out regarding this. Although it focuses only on the ultrasonic scaling part of the dental cleaning, but it should still be useful.

Efficacy of active noise-canceling headphones in patients undergoing ultrasonic scaling

I do find this bit in the article interesting:

These dB values seem a bit low to me, since some websites mention ultrasonic scalers to be in the vicinity of 90-105 dB or similar. Although, to be honest, 90-105 dB on the other hand, seems like it is more than it actually is.