Teeth grinding and jaw clenching, also called bruxism, are the conditions that mainly damage your oral health and cause pain in different areas like the jaw, teeth, and ears. The important thing is that these conditions can cause tinnitus. This is a ringing or buzzing sensation in the ears caused by various issues. When you grind your teeth or clench your jaws, the muscle tension spreads and reaches the areas around your ears, which becomes the reason for tinnitus.
But do not worry because there are some solutions that can help the patient manage bruxism and tinnitus. If you want to get rid of these problems, then wear a mouthguard, practice relaxation techniques, and manage the issues like TMJ disorder. All these managements help to reduce the teeth grinding. When you treat the main causes, then ringing and buzzing also finish.
This article will help you to get information and understand the relation between teeth grinding and tinnitus and how jaw clenching can promote ear ringing. You can also learn how to manage these problems with the help of tips provided in this guide.
How Jaw Clenching Can Trigger Tinnitus?
Usually, jaw clenching is a common issue nowadays, and it is also a symptom of bruxism. It can get serious and cause other worse problems like tinnitus. In the following section, you can get detailed information about how it happened.
The Role of the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ)
The TMJ is a joint that acts as a bridge between your upper and lower jaw and makes the connection between them. Usually, due to heavy clenching, your jaw gets stressed from time to time. It can get serious if you don't treat it properly. These joints have a connection with your nerves that help you hear. Due to clenching, these nerves also get disturbed and might cause ringing in your ears, which is called tinnitus.
Muscle Tension and Nerve Compression
Clenching not only affects the muscles around the TMJ but can also become a cause of other problems like tinnitus because, due to clenching, the TMJ muscles become tightened, and this can also affect the working of the nearby nerves that play an important role in hearing, so because of clenching they cannot work well.
The Impact on Hearing Sensitivity
Those who face more clenching problems can also suffer from hearing problems because more clenching can cause problems with the ear nerves. You might hear some loud sounds during this, which can be very irritating and annoying. Through this, you can face many problems in your daily activities.
Symptoms of Teeth Grinding and Tinnitus
Sometimes, you are having a problem like teeth grinding and tinnitus, and you don't understand what is happening to you. But don't worry; we are here to help you understand these conditions. The following are some common symptoms that most people face during these conditions:
- Ringing or buzzing in the ears
- Jaw pain or stiffness
- Headaches or earaches
- Difficulty sleeping due to jaw discomfort
- Increased sensitivity to noise
Usually, it is challenging to understand the main problem between these two issues. So, for this, the best solution is to first check if you have clenching and are also facing hearing issues, and then it can be confirmed that bruxism and tinnitus are related. Then, it is easy for you to treat your problem well with the most effective solution.
Strategies to Reduce Jaw Clenching and Tinnitus
Having bruxism and tinnitus might get serious over time if you remain untreated. You can easily reduce and avoid them. You just have to follow some different methods that work effectively and provide the best results. The following are some of the strategies:
Stress Management Techniques
Keeping yourself relaxed and healthy is the way that you can avoid many diseases. That is why it's important to add some relaxation techniques to your daily routine. The following are some of these techniques:
- Deep breathing exercises: Deep breathing is one of the effective ways to clear and calm your body and mind. You just have to practice breathing slowly and deeply.
- Meditation and mindfulness: If you are stressed and tired after working the whole day, you can easily avoid this stress and anxiety by performing this technique.
- Yoga and tai chi: This is a common physical technique that works effectively and fully relaxes your mind and muscles.
Dental Interventions
Those who want to protect their overall dental health perfectly and want to avoid other issues caused by it can use dental tools to treat this condition well:
- Mouthguards: Using a mouthguard like a custom-fitted mouthguard is the perfect way to help you reduce problems like teeth grinding and clenching. Through this, you can also avoid problems like tinnitus and make your sleep peaceful.
- Orthodontic treatment: Sometimes, you are facing difficulties in your daily activities due to your wrong-positioned teeth. In this condition, orthodontic treatment is the best solution. Here, you have to use braces or aligners.
Medical Treatments
If you are facing it very seriously and it is still happening even after using the given techniques, then you have to go through some of the most effective medical treatments, such as:
- Muscle relaxants: Using this method, you can relax your jaw muscles effectively.
- Botox injections: Those who want to get out of this painful condition have to use Botox injections into their jaw muscles. This is a temporary way to get relief from this.
- Physical therapy: If your jaw muscles get tightened because of severe clenching or teeth grinding, you can relax these muscles with physical therapy.
FAQs
Can jaw clenching cause tinnitus?
The main reason behind tinnitus is that there is a connection between your nerves that help in hearing and jaw joints. When clenching occurs, these nerves get disturbed or sometimes damaged, which produces a ringing and buzzing sensation in the ears.
How can I reduce jaw clenching?
If you want to reduce jaw clenching, then you have to do some things, like in a stressed situation, keep yourself relaxed with techniques like meditation and yoga. If you are facing more issues in your dental health, then use a mouth guard to avoid it.
Can tinnitus go away if I stop grinding my teeth?
Usually, you can reduce the chances of tinnitus by reducing teeth grinding with effective treatment. But this can also depend on how it happened to you.
What are the signs of TMJ disorder?
The common symptoms of TMJ disorder are jaw pain, clicking or popping sounds in the jaw joint, difficulty chewing, and headaches. Whenever you notice these symptoms, you have to consult with your dentist to get the perfect solution.
How can I improve my sleep quality to reduce teeth grinding?
You can easily improve your sleep schedule and stop teeth grinding. You just have to make a better sleep schedule, keep yourself relaxed, and avoid the usage of caffeine and alcohol.