Sitting in Dental Chair Makes My Tinnitus DIsappear for 36 Hours Afterwards — Why?

Thanks in advance to all and I post this to see if anyone else has been in the situation.

My tinnitus showed up out of nowhere September 16, 2019. Left ear only. A Morse code, kettle whistle type. It’s not constant but can be.

Sometimes if I press my head a certain way it stops. Then it’s back.

I’ve never been exposed to loud noises, no concerts, no fireworks, no motorcycle, no headphones. I’m a 49 year old woman... not interested in the afore-mentioned.

After extensive googling - and new to tinnitus back in September - I decided it was some sort of a cervical spine issue - because I do have disc degeneration between cervical spine five and six as noted on x-ray and also forward head posture noted on x-ray; so I went to a chiropractor for eight weeks which didn’t change the tinnitus in the least. Didn’t hurt. Didn’t help. I did all sorts of neck exercises which also didn’t seem to make any difference to the tinnitus either. Tinnitus was just Whistling away...

In November I chipped a tooth that required five dental appointments, a root canal and crown - somewhat long appointments in the chair. I was worried about the drill making the tinnitus worse - just due to what I have read online - but the drill had no effect on my tinnitus.

But what is very strange is that during my dental appointments and for 36 hours after the appointments there is no tinnitus detectable whatsoever. Nothing but silence.

Wednesday I woke up to my whistling tinnitus. Went to dental appt, as I’m in the chair I hear the tinnitus fade out. No tinnitus for rest of the day. Quiet all night (blessings beyond blessing). No tinnitus yesterday. Nothing for 36 hours.

I am now keeping to a low sugar, low salt, low carb diet. Per my ENT who said that helps tinnitus.

The ENT also said I have high frequency hearing loss in my left ear - which is hogwash - because the day of my audiogram my tinnitus was screeching, how was I supposed to hear anything over the screeching tinnitus.

Every online audiogram I have taken when my tinnitus was quiet - has my hearing pegged as perfect and my audio frequencies going up to 11,000 Hz no problem which is standard for my age.

My question is; I wonder what it could be about sitting somewhat strangely in the dental chair that could quiet tinnitus for up to 36 hours after every single appointment?

My tinnitus is coming back as I write this as a very faint - very faint whistle which usually means it’s starting back up again as it has after the other dental appointments.

My usual tinnitus is a 3-4/10 but at its worst can be a 7-8/10 if I have had salty or sugary foods.

I’m sorry for all of us here... the never knowing what will help or hurt the tinnitus is so frustrating.

But. Best believe I “listened” to my silence yesterday. So. Strange...

 

Be thankful, that you got to not hear it for that amount of time. No one can explain why your tinnitus went silent, but it was a blessing...

 

I am thankful for every moment I don't hear it...it could be the last quiet I ever get..thank you!

 

Does the Tinnitus start going away after you get a shot of Novocaine? Novocaine has shown to temporarily reduce or eliminate T.

 

Yes, novocaine for all appointments...That makes sense because my T starts to fade after the novocaine shot and stays quiet for over 24 hours after the shot...

I was hoping that the abscessed tooth, was causing the T but it is on my right side and is the furthest back molar on right (tooth #2)...and my T is only in my left ear..

My T is back to whistling away...I never thought it could be the novocaine...Sweet Jesus..this T is a devil...

Thank you so much for you post..it never occurred to me the novocaine, I thought it was the position in the chair .. or something unblocking my ears or I couldn't put my finger on it..why only after dental appts would the T fade to nothing..then come back..

 

This is actually really good news for you, since it confirms that your T has nothing to do with hearing: apparently a nerve is going haywire somewhere, which you already suspected in your first post. In theory, this is treatable, assuming you can somehow locate the nerve causing it.

Please get back to your ENT to inform him about your silent periods, explaining that your T is thus not hearing related. Most ENT's follow their hearing tests religiously, ending up with misdiagnoses when T itself is preventing the patient from listening well. These doctors need to understand that an audiogram does not tell what a patient with T cannot hear: it only shows the minimum of what the patient cán hear, despite of their T.

 

Thank you Tybs, I have always thought it was something to do with my neck and the disc degeneration; also during this time I became anemic and have dealt with that issue and my iron levels are being restored. My hemoglobin was at 4...so it was very very low..my B12 819 and folate good so..it was a cascade of issues...but mostly I believe this is NOT my ear, its a nerve..absolutely...now to find it...

I told my ENT my T was in and out; I told him I can hear a pin drop. The Audiologist who did my audiogram said I could hear words with the highest wind sounds over it that 20 year olds can hear...hearing was on point.

I told ENT I went to Chiro, he LOL of course, he handed me a pamphlet on surviving tinnitus, told me there was nothing to be done about tinnitus, but ear protection and limit salt and sugars; (I am normal weight, no diabetes, no daily meds, no otoxic medications, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol)...

One thing the Chiro told me to do which I stopped and will restart is freezing a small water bottle, and laying your head backwards over it for 10 mins 2x a day (reversing forward head posture, which can impinge a nerves in the neck)...it did offer relief, my T will sort of escalate and then putz itself out and go quiet, then restart...and I also got what is called a posture pump (and still use that once or twice a day) for forward head posture...

I am sorry to read you got your T from a fall and am hoping for you as well it could be (praying) temporary...

 

This is what most ENT's learned during their education. Which is weird IMO, since any tone caused by an earwax buildup is also called tinnitus, and they are the same people who perform the procedure to remove the wax and thereby "cure" this type of T, which is a small example of cases of tinnitus that can be cured. Their saying pretty much contradicts their own actions there.

That said, of course we understand that T caused by hearing loss is untreatable at the moment. What baffles me though is the way of thinking: other causes of T do not seem to exist in the mind of the average ENT. I always wonder why they don't read up on recent discoveries, as research articles of up to 20 years old are freely available online, where clear cases are explained of patients that got their T resolved due to physiotherapy or surgery. I hope this attitude will change in the upcoming years.

Stuff happens. Though I'm still struggling at times, there is hope as well. Thanks for your support though, much appreciated: I too hope that yours gets resolved

 

I hope for all of us...its not something you pop an Advil for and can sort of get thru it..its always there whistling away...

I have found that dehydration is a huge factor in a spike for me, as in after coffee, I will spike to 7/8-10 for hours, but coffee is not something I can give up, salt and sugar I have..once I have properly rehydrated from the coffee which takes hours; there is a chance I can go back down to 3/4-10 which is bearable..when I can get rid of the high pitch squeals (the intermittent beeping) and just hear the low humming baseline, my mind can ignore it. But when the intermittent beeps are there - much harder to drown out..

Also, talking on the phone, even on speaker I can spike for hours with the morse code beeee eeeee eeeeeee eeeeee meeep meeeep...so I keep an ear plug with me everywhere I go, use speaker phone only and plug the left ear pronto I answer the phone..this is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to me...my own brain or ear making noise...wth...