Tinnitus and Its Role in Orthodontics

Abstract

13 Tinnitus is the sensation of a noise in the ear or head when no apparent source for the noise is evident. Tinnitus may be either subjective (perceived only by the patient) or objective (perceived by an examiner also). Virtually 95 to 98% of tinnitus is subjective, and 65 to 98% of tinnitus is idiopathic [1]. Tooth movement during fixed orthodontic treatment may be a factor which may lead to tinnitus in adult patients. This occurs due to a change in the contact between maxillary and mandibular teeth which leads to the formation of a new sensory engram. As adaptation is slow in adults, the temporomandibular joint may degenerate leading to disorders. Tinnitus has been seen in patients with a previous history of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). To identify an associated disorder, the history is exceedingly important, because certain reversible problems (e.g., recurrent exposure to loud noise), drugs producing tinnitus (e.g., aspirin or quinidine), barotrauma from scuba diving, renal disease with ototoxic drug exposure, or lymphoma treatment involving ototoxic drugs may be discovered [2]. The examiner must quickly run through a list of various groupings of disorders. These include otologic, dental and orthodontic, traumatic, metabolic, neurologic, pharmacologic, or psychiatric.