Tensing My Jaw Makes a Crunching Sound, Pushing My Lower Jaw Out Increases My Tinnitus

I asked an MD this and he told me it was pretty common but I wanted to ask the group for their advice.

My tinnitus is and has always been all over the place. Usually changes in loudness during the day whenever it decides to. Most mornings it's pretty quiet and builds up during the day. Some days it stays near silent. More often than not it's like a hiss rather than a tone (which I used to have).

In any case, I noticed that if I push my lower jaw out it raises the volume a couple notches from whatever it happens to be.

I've tried to tell the doctors and the dentist about it, they say nothing is wrong with my jaw. If I tense my jaw just right I can have a light crunching sound on the right side. Most of my tinnitus is in the left.

I'm thinking I want an MRI of my jaw area and I'm fortunate that I can get one scheduled and skip all the referrals in Manila.

Just wondering if anyone has had this sort of thing and what the outcome was. I've been thru the ENT & Audiology and got the standard BS that most of us have.

 

My tinnitus does the same thing especially when pushing the jaw forward. I get a crunching sound if I tense my jaw muscles and hold it for a second, but the sound is in my ear rather than my jaw. Does your crunching sound originate from the jaw joints?

 

It seems like it's from my jaw but it's all so close to the ear I couldn't say for sure. Another thing I was thinking is that I may need to lay off chewing gum. I chew gum constantly, even have a piece in my mouth at night because my mouth gets dry as hell.

 

Ahh yes I'd take a break from that for a while and see what happens. I read a story where somebody was getting tinnitus from ETD and swollen jaw muscles. Once he gave his jaws a rest and the muscles calmed down, his ETD began to get better.
In your case idk if you have ETD, but I know that when I chewed a lot of gum to make my ETD better I started having jaw problems like clicking or popping when I chewed.

Long story short yes definitely take a break from gum, and massage your jaw muscles with your knuckles a few times a day, that helped my jaw problems at least.

 

We'll see. I've been reading a lot about it the past couple days. I'm not sure if I have ETD or not but I used to be in the water A LOT and had horrible ear infections.

 

You might have TMJ and/or a misaligned jaw. Both can contribute to tinnitus. If so, you should find a dentist that specializes in TMJ like a neuromuscular or maxillofacial dentist to get a better, more targeted diagnosis. I have both and my tinnitus started two nights after I received a night guard for grinding. The right side of my lower jaw is pushed back and up into my right ear, TMJ is worse on the right side, and my tinnitus is always either limited to or louder in my right ear at all times. I start TMJ treatments at the end of the month. A useful link for you about this - https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/association-tinnitus-neck-tmj/. However, tinnitus due to jaw problems may also be caused by other contributing factors as well, but hopefully this will get you started.

 

Also, potential ETD partly due to jaw problems is also not unheard of.

 

Hello !

I also have lots of tensions in my jaw, so I went to see a physiotherapist specialized in this area, and it helped a lot with the understanding of all the tensions this area can get !

And with simple exercises you can really relax your jaw...

Also the fact that to breathe slowly, 5 seconds in and 5 seconds out help a lot !

 

Hi there--my ENT diagnosed me with TMJ and I just went to get a splint made (they said it would help align my jaw properly and protect my teeth from the grinding). Was yours a night guard or a splint? My dentist implied that wearing the splint could help the tinnitus or at least the pain/pressure in my ears but it's worrying that yours caused the tinnitus in the first place. Would you mind sharing which TMJ treatment you're going to be doing? My ENT and dentist have not been much help at all unfortunately. I'm still not 100% my TMJ is the cause of the tinnitus regardless.

Thank you!