Resumo
Tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease. Among people with a jaw joint disorder, about one in three reports tinnitus. The most useful sign is simple: if the sound changes when you open your mouth or clench your teeth, the jaw is worth investigating. Medical assessment with a hearing test comes first, always.
You hear a ringing nobody else can hear. You have seen a doctor, had your ears checked, been told everything is normal. And the sound is still there.
There is one possibility that usually goes unnoticed: the joint that sits a few millimetres from your ear.
One in three
The temporomandibular joint, the TMJ, connects the jaw to the skull and sits just in front of the ear canal. Its relationship with tinnitus is among the most studied in the field.
Alghamdi et al., 2026
Read that number carefully: the two appear together very often. That does not mean one causes the other. It means it is worth investigating.
The test only you can run
There is a recognised subtype in which tinnitus changes as you move your jaw or neck. It is called somatosensory tinnitus.
Michiels et al., 2018
Try it now, it takes fifteen seconds:
- Open wide and close slowly. Did the sound change in volume or pitch?
- Clench your teeth for five seconds, then release. Any difference? Any pain near the ear?
- Put your fingers in front of your ears and open your mouth. Any clicking, or one side moving differently from the other?
If any answer was yes, you have just gathered clinical information no scan captures and only you can observe.
Want your case reviewed?
The assessment with Dr. Debora Ayala takes an hour and a half and starts by listening to what you have noticed.
Alameda Lorena, 1.304 · Jardim Paulista, São Paulo
Does treating the jaw help?
In some cases. And the size of that “some” is worth stating.
Van der Wal et al., 2020
So: it can reduce the intensity for some people. What the trials measured was reduction, not the end of the sound. Anyone promising to end your tinnitus is promising what the literature does not support.
The right order
The doctor first. Tinnitus warrants medical assessment, and an ENT specialist is the natural route. There are causes only that assessment identifies.
Do not wait
See a doctor urgently if the tinnitus is in one ear only, pulses with your heartbeat, comes with hearing loss or with neurological changes. The American clinical practice guideline calls for prompt full hearing testing in those cases.
Then the dental assessment. It complements the medical one, it does not replace it. It makes sense when the tinnitus changes as you move your mouth, when there is pain, clicking or locking in the jaw, when you wake with a tense face, or when the medical assessment found nothing that explains the symptom.
What gets examined is function: how the jaw moves, how the teeth meet when you close, the state of the muscles of the face and neck.
What to bring to the appointment
- The result of the three testsWhether the sound changes on opening, on clenching, whether there is clicking
- Your medical reportEspecially if it came back normal
- A list of your medicinesSome can have tinnitus as a side effect
- When it startedApproximate month and year is enough
- Your night guard, if you wear oneEven an old one
Important
Recognising several signs does not mean your tinnitus is caused by the jaw. It means it is worth investigating. That conclusion belongs to a clinician with a clinical examination, never to a list.
If your tinnitus changes when you move your mouth, that is already clinical information. It is worth talking about your case.
Perguntas frequentes
Can TMJ problems cause ringing in the ears?
Tinnitus and temporomandibular disorders occur together very often: a meta-analysis of 34 observational studies and 47,349 participants found tinnitus in 31.8% of people with TMD, around one in three, and about four times the odds of tinnitus compared with controls. The studies are observational, so they show association and not causation. TMD cannot be said to cause tinnitus.
What is somatosensory tinnitus?
It is the subtype of tinnitus, also called somatic tinnitus, in which somatosensory input from the jaw area or the neck changes how the sound is perceived. An international consensus published in Trends in Hearing in 2018 agreed on a set of criteria that strongly suggest it, among them tinnitus that changes when you move your jaw, head or neck. No single criterion has to be present in every patient.
Will treating my jaw make the tinnitus go away?
Some people improve. What the trials measured is a reduction in severity, not the disappearance of the sound. In a randomised delayed-start trial with 80 patients, a clinically relevant improvement on the Tinnitus Functional Index was reached by 41% of the whole group immediately after treatment and 61% after follow-up, and by 34% and 46% on the Tinnitus Questionnaire. About 35% of the decrease in severity was attributable to the reduction in TMD pain.
Should I see an ENT doctor or a dentist first?
Start with the medical assessment. The tinnitus guideline from the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery recommends a targeted history and examination at the first evaluation, and a prompt, comprehensive audiologic examination when tinnitus is one-sided, persists for six months or more, or is associated with hearing difficulties. The dental assessment is complementary.
When is tinnitus urgent?
Seek medical assessment without delay when the tinnitus pulses in time with your heartbeat, affects only one ear, comes with asymmetric hearing loss, or comes with a focal neurological change. The guideline recommends against routine imaging for tinnitus and makes an exception for exactly those features.
An hour and a half, with the dentist herself
- Full functional assessment of the bite and the joint
- Digital scanner and imaging when indicated
- A plan explained before anything is started
Alameda Lorena, 1.304 · Jardim Paulista, São Paulo
References
- Alghamdi H. A., Alwably A. A., Alsaad F. I. et al. Temporomandibular joint disorders and tinnitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Oral Health, 2026. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Michiels S., Sanchez T. G., Oron Y. et al. Diagnostic Criteria for Somatosensory Tinnitus. Trends in Hearing, 2018;22. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Van der Wal A. et al. Treatment of Somatosensory Tinnitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial Studying the Effect of Orofacial Treatment as Part of a Multidisciplinary Program. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2020;9(3):705. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Van der Wal A. et al. Reduction of Somatic Tinnitus Severity is Mediated by Improvement of Temporomandibular Disorders. Otology & Neurotology, 2022;43(3). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Tunkel D. E., Bauer C. A., Sun G. H. et al. Clinical Practice Guideline: Tinnitus. Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, 2014;151(2 Suppl). AAO-HNS
