Teeth Grinder: Could My Tinnitus Be from TMJ? Should I Get an MRI? At My Wits' End

I have had tinnitus as long as I can remember. It is a high pitched ringing in my ears. In the last 3 years it has become unbearable. I have always been able to clench my jaw and it makes it a lot louder. I can't imagine life continuing like this. I'm worried that it will just keep getting worse. I couldn't watch TV right now, I wouldn't understand a word. I would give it a 10 right now. When I wake up it will be at 6 and makes its way back up during the day.

I do have times where I go by not noticing it, and those times are always the same. 1) it's still around a 6 and 2) I'm busy doing something else with other people that involves noise to mask it.

Maybe I need an MRI or it could be TMJ related. I have been grinding my teeth at night for a long as I can remember as well. I have been wearing mouth guards at night for about 20 years. The dentist could never make them strong enough. The over the counter ones last about 6 months to a year. Dentist never told me anything about TMJ - wouldn't he know?

About 3 years ago my tinnitus started getting very loud. It stopped being so loud, then slowly came back. It's been very loud for about a year now. There are days when it's a little better, or a little worse. Today for example it's loud enough to hear outside if that tell you anything.

I've seen several ENTs and an Audiologist- who works here) - over the course of all of this. The ENTs say nothing is wrong. The audiologist says I have hearing loss at 6 kHz. They got me hearing aids. The hearing aids do help me understand better. Now I had a follow up hearing test and nothing has gotten any worse.

When I first got my hearing aids (3 years ago) I could suddenly hear the cymbal sound on my keyboard's drum sounds. I thought maybe something was wrong with the keyboard. It was my hearing. Now the tinnitus is so loud I can barely hear it.

So I'm back to it being so loud now, that multiple white noise machines in bed don't drown it out. Nothing does.

Which doctor do I need to see?

I'm getting to a point where I feel like I'm losing all hope and this is life. If life is like this - life is going to stink. I need to find a solution!!! I'm going crazy.