Increased risk of tinnitus in patients with temporomandibular disorder: a retrospective population-based cohort study

Abstract

This study determined whether there is an increased risk of tinnitus in patients with temporomandibular joint (TMJ). We used information from health insurance claims obtained from Taiwan National Health Insurance (TNHI). Patients aged 20 years and older who were newly diagnosed with TMJ disorder served as the study cohort. The demographic factors and comorbidities that may be associated with tinnitus were also identified, including age, sex, and comorbidities of hearing loss, noise effects on the inner ear, and degenerative and vascular ear disorders. A higher proportion of TMJ disorder patients suffered from hearing loss (5.30 vs. 2.11 %), and degenerative and vascular ear disorders (0.20 vs. 0.08 %) compared with the control patients. The crude hazard ratio (HR) of tinnitus in the TMJ disorder cohort was 2.73-fold higher than that in the control patients, with an adjusted HR of 2.62 (95 % CI = 2.29-3.00). The comorbidity-specific TMJ disorder cohort to the control patients' adjusted HR of tinnitus was higher for patients without comorbidity (adjusted HR = 2.75, 95 % CI = 2.39-3.17). We also observed a 3.22-fold significantly higher relative risk of developing tinnitus within the 3-year follow-up period (95 % CI = 2.67-3.89). Patients with TMJ disorder might be at increased risk of tinnitus.

Tinnitus as a comorbidity to temporomandibular disorders—A systematic review

“…The incidence of tinnitus for patients with TMD was reported by one study to be 0.82% compared to 0.3% for a control group . One study reported an incidence of 7.3%, but due to the reporting of cross‐sectional data only in this study, this was deemed to describe prevalence, and thus included in the data on prevalence below.…”

“…To compare results, it is important that studies have used standardised diagnostic systems. Fourteen of the 26 included studies used the RDC/TMD while the other 12 used non‐validated questionnaires, which creates uncertainty about the TMD diagnoses . In all included studies, tinnitus is self‐reported; tinnitus can, however, also be classified using the THI .…”

“…De‐Pedro‐Herràzes suggests that patients with muscle‐related TMD present a higher degree of medical comorbidity and other suggested risk factors but in general, included studies did not list possible risk factors for the development of tinnitus …”

Introductory Chapter: Management of Tinnitus - The Views of Various Disciplines

“…Recently, the treatment can come in many forms, such as sound therapy, counseling, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) [2], temporomandibular disorder (TMD) treatment [5], acupuncture, herbal medicine, or other alternative treatments. This is why more and more data have revealed to achieve the aim, getting rid of tinnitus successfully.…”

Evaluation of depressive symptoms and quality of life in individuals with tinnitus and temporomandibular disorders

“…The disorders occur in over 10% of all individuals, restricting their ability to perform everyday functions at home and at work (FERENDIUK; ZAJDEL; PIHUT, 2002). TMD patients often report the presence of tinnitus as an associated symptom, and the comorbidity relationship between these changes is poorly understood (CHERIAN et al, 2013;FERNANDES et al, 2014;LEE et al, 2015). However, due to the high prevalence of such otological complaints in individuals with masticatory muscle disorders, it is speculated that there is a close relationship between tinnitus and this kind of TMD (BUERGERS et al, 2014).…”