Officially Diagnosed with TMJ

Well I went to the dentist earlier and they did some x-rays of my jaw, and some examination. According to the Orthodontist my jaw is definitely misaligned (already knew that but whatever), and both of my TMJ joints are dysfunctional. Also it's leading to my neck being misaligned.

The good news is that moving my jaw to align it reduces my tinnitus, so fixing that should help my tinnitus.

The bad news is it may require some bigtime work.

That's the update on that. Hope it goes over well.

 

@threefirefour ,
Glad you have a answer of what is causing your tinnitus.
I also have tmj and my teenage years had to wear a mouth peace day and night and also told I qualify for jaw surgery.
Last year I needed a top denture and its helped a little but not opted for surgery due to having Menieres and hearingloss and would not stop my tinnitus,just the face ache and jaw crunching.
I have had to wait a year till gums shrank to have a new denture after Christmas and will review my jaw then.
You might find the mouth guard and physio on your jaw helpful or opt for surgery if needed.
Love glynis

 

You are very lucky, if your tinnitus volume can be reduced. Some of us don't have that , so count your blessings...

 

Thanks Glynis. Im glad so many people here have experience with TMJ.

I agree I'm part of a pretty small minority of sufferers. And even in that minority of somatic sufferers, there's people like Greg who can't get a way to fix it.

 

Also I can reduce the tinnitus very much in my right ear by leaning my head to my right shoulder. Don't know if that's relevant though.

 

That's great news! Keep us posted on how it goes. I guess you'll be wearing some kind of appliance for a while? Physical therapy?

 

Appliance probably. We will see if I get fitted with a brace.

 

@threefirefour From what you are saying above, confirms our discussions on Wednesday. Focus on your jaw. The jaw came first. Again, you should see your T fade away. You probably have a family history per jaw or TMD problems.

http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/why-does-my-tinnitus-change-in-volume-when-i-turn-my-neck/

 

Will it involve drilling?

 

I think so too. Hope this is what fixes the issue. You were right again.

I really, really, really hope not. Apparently it's bad so it could very well require some surgery.

 

@threefirefour Have quite a lot of TMJ treatments done. 80-100 sessions. It's so far the only thing that helps apart from the bite splint.

Jaw alignment (occlusion) analysis can be done by a computer these days. So no more occlusion paper. See here:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/cervical-neck-retraction.23184/#post-283797

And

And my further posts in this topic:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...-—-possible-treatment.500/page-37#post-290734

 

Are TMJ treatments always this strenuous?

 

TMJ isn't a quick fix. You can try but read the thousands of papers on Google Scholar / Pubmed.
The jaw muscles are one of the strongest in the body and directly controlled by the brain in case of stress. Unlearning stress behavior (bruxism) is already 10 months to a year, if not more. The bite splints are prescribed "for life" with replacement in an undefined interval for hygiëne purposes. My advice: swap it every 1,5 years. TMJ and the jaw muscles which contract can be seen on an oral wideview x-ray.

So yes, TMJ is a very difficult situation and pretty bad shit. The facial pain can be huge. The headaches too. It took two years of treatment before the top of my head loosened.

And don't forget that muscles retract an loosen in an unpredictable pattern. So you can have the biggest birthparty with lot's of laughing and still have major pain afterwards. The pain system in the brain is (somewhat) uncontrollable. Managing lifestyle is key, but nobody tells you to proper build it up or when to take rest. Even if you stay in bed for two years in a row relaxing it will only partially help.

And this is the thing: TMJ treatment is multiple years for most patients. Consider yourself lucky if you do five months of bi weekly therapy and symtoms alleviate. If your face is somewhat tensioned you will feel it. And the therapists are trained enough to feel short jaw muscles as well.

I have/had major pain in my face so the only option was to continue treatment.

I discussed the short route: muscle relaxant drug and "fixed" but no Doc said that would help as they have sleepy side effects and taking the old carbamazepine can give tinnitus as well (it's in the letter in the box).

With real facial pain you would try heroine as long as it helps. It makes powerless and gives grief. But luckily my TMJ therapist always motivates me to continue. Without that I would be lost.

 

Wow. I hope I have it a lot easier. I chew with one side so maybe switching will help. Thanks...

 

@threefirefour, Good luck with your TMJ treatment wherever you go. I hope you find relief! I went to this same Dr. as sleep apnea. I broke my TMJ appliance into 4-5 pieces....may have stepped on it. They repaired it already and is ready to pick up. They still had the mold and fixed it somehow.

TMJ Appliances, Dentist Dr. Roy Hakala, St....

 

It will. Get the treatment options and in a year it will be better. I saw dozens of papers and the prognosis is positive. Even if it is 25%.

 

25% is pretty low but it's better than nothing.

 

When I first entered the TMJ office with major T in 2014 he said no guarentees but I see what I can do. It's actually better than that they give false promises which makes you angry.

 

Wait, so is it 25% for fixing TMJ quick or fixing Tinnitus?

 

Everyone I know with TMJ simply wears a mouth splint, including myself. Some stick to a temporary soft foods diet if they are having a flare up of severe pain.

Are you having a lot of jaw and facial pain? Severe headaches? Jaw bone clicking in and out of place?

 

The molds (in clay) are different over the years. For every hygienic replacement they make new ones.

 

Thankfully pain isn't my biggest complaint. Mostly "facial stress". My TMJ joints hurt every now and then, and My jaw clicks all the time and very often. Other people can hear it sometimes.

 

For tinnitus they don't even give any estimates. It's fixing the TMJ and that gives less tension on the ear and so less T. That is the idea. But it can also happen that your TMJ is fixed but not the T.

With a perfectly fine hearing the chances are bigger.

 

Well consider yourself lucky as facial pain is really shit.

 

I've seen papers where people who suffer both have their TMJ fixed. Apparently anywhere from 40-%-90% (depends on the study) experience at least noticable improvement.

I've had so much dental work that I've had every form of facial pain. Really sucks.

 

They just told me they had the mold from Dec. 2014 and needed that to make the repair. They send it somewhere to be fixed. I have no idea how they fuse the plastic back together. I'm trying to get a new one made so I have a spare but it sounds like they are $2800(new insurance may not cover it) Yeah they will make new impressions for the new one. My old insurance was much better as they paid for appliance.

 

What I can say is that it is a really good boost that after the first 5 months of treatment I saw improvement and before I thought I was practically lost.

 

I have TMJ from grinding my teeth. TMJ is awful.

 

Try getting a basic sports mouthguard at Decathlon or something. It will help you stop it, and will probably help reduce your tinnitus.

 

T and H are fading away. If didnt have TMJ and ETD right now i would be out of this forum.