Noise Exposure / Ultrasonic Scaler at the Dentist

My tinnitus started about 7 months ago. I play in a band, so I along with everyone else blamed the music. I played a show 5 days prior to noticing the ringing. I also had my teeth cleaned the day before I noticed the ringing, but I thought nothing of it at the time. And they used a device on me for the first time they had never used on me, which I later confirmed to be an ultrasonic scaler. I was devastated. Seeing ENT made me way more depressed and made my tinnitus even worse (usual story). After 3 weeks or so I was starting to get better. I was noticing the ringing less. Then I had to go back to the Dentist to get a cavity filled. Day after I had a bad spike that lasted over a month. I changed my diet and practiced mindfulness and slowly with many ups and downs I felt I was habituating again.

Until one month ago I had my teeth cleaned again. The day after I noticed a new tone creeping up in my right ear along with my normal tone being considerably louder. After a few days when it didn't subside I thought about the Dentist and googled the device they started using on me 7 months ago and again one month ago, the ultrasonic scaler. Seeing the side affects really freaked me out and now I am convinced that it was the scaler that was the straw that broke the camel's back as the say. I also became freaked out that since I had this done to me not once but twice now this new tone will become permanent.

Over the course of the month this new tone has a changed a lot. For the worse. And I even have a few more tones now that I didn't have a month ago. They are osculating tones and are not steady or predictable. They have also become reactive. They seem to react to most sounds, but I notice them the most around humming sounds or white noise sounds like running water, driving a car, cooking bacon, air vents, etc... It is almost impossible to mask and I have not been getting more than 3-4 hours of sleep over the last month.

I saw an audiologist last week and got a Tinnitus hearing test. It would seem I also have hyperacusis as my LDL scored from 70 dB in the low range and went down to 55db in the upper range. I find I had hit rock bottom in my tinnitus journey and I am not coping very well anymore. The reactive tinnitus can't really be masked (or I haven't found a reliable way to), I have new oscillating tones that drive me crazy, my baseline tinnitus sound is as loud as ever, and I have hyperacusis. I would give anything to have my normal ass tinnitus sound I had a month ago.

Not really sure where I'm going with this, but that is my story. Not really sure where to go from here. Diet is no longer doing shit for me and I am finding it extremely difficult to practice mindfulness with these new sounds I am experiencing/cannot mask. I also just quit my band. Music was my passion. When you have tinnitus, you think it can't get any worse until boom it's now 10x worse. Shit.

 

Same feelings. I had normal tinnitus in January. I'd give anything to go back to days without reactive tinnitus / hyperacusis / new oscillating tones. From everything I've come across, my symptoms and struggles seem to really match yours. I see you've hit most threads that I've been looking for answers in too. I just haven't found any success stories with it resolving. I'm sorry we're both going through this struggle.

 

I'm doing much better. I believe what has helped me most is correcting my posture, doing daily stretches to try to keep my muscles loose, and addressing my TMJ issues. Currently, (well, prior to the pandemic) I see a TMJ specialist/Dentist who gave me a splint to wear to correct my jaw position, an upper cervical chiropractor who adjusts my atlus to keep my head straight with my neck, a physical therapist to help my posture and keep my body loose, and an acupuncturist/massage therapist. It has been very expensive, but it has helped. If money is an issue there are plenty of exercises you can find on YouTUbe to help with TMJ and to loosen your neck, and help your posture, etc...

Hyperacusis is mostly gone, distortions are very feint and I rarely notice them anymore, and I was reactive tinnitus free for over a month. It unfortunately returned a few days ago in my right ear after an exposure to a loud sound, but I am confident it will fade away again in a few weeks.

 

Has your baseline tinnitus decreased as well?

 

A bit maybe. The normal constant tinnitus doesn't really bother me that much anymore tho so it is hard to say. I can live with that. I definitely have days where I barely notice it though. It's the hyperacusis, reactive tinnitus, and sound distortions that I found particularly hard to live with.

Also, I have found that I can turn most of my tinnitus off by squeezing my neck in certain places. Of course it all comes back as soon as I let go.

 

Can you private message me or reply a little bit more about how your cervical neck/atlus adjustment went? I am going to get tests run prior to going, [MRI, X-ray] but despite that, I'm still pretty afraid of the entire thing. I do suffer a great deal with my neck and upper body, though, even before the T began. Posture issues and a dowager's hump also affect me. It'd be nice to know what physical sensations you experienced, if any...and if there was pain or a spike or lowering in T during or after the procedure, just to mentally prepare myself. Thanks.