Ear pain is commonly treated by your doctor and there are many known causes. But when Sue had been living with it for over 30 years and no one could diagnose her or treat the chronic pain she had been living with, she decided to look for answers herself.
Ear Pain: Introducing Sue
Sue came into our office when she heard about some of our success stories in treatment TMJ and migraine pain.
Sue had been living with ear pain for much of her adult life. It started around age 12 and she had TMJ surgery by age 14. Surgery did not help eliminate her pain, and she went on to experience more and more symptoms as the years went by.
She came into my office with the following symptoms:
- pain in the right ear
- ringing in the right ear
- a feeling of fullness in the right ear
- clenching and grinding
- past dental work
- past history of surgery
- no existing infections (as per her doctor)
- dizziness
- vertigo
- just recently, she is having difficulty walking since her balance is now affected
Sometimes Ear Pain is NOT caused by Ears
After taking a thorough history and performing a detailed clinical exam, we found that Sue’s ear pain and related symptoms were actually caused by her TMJ position.
Sue had a misaligned bite which resulted in her right TMJ to tilt up and backwards, pushing on her right ear canal. The constant pressure resulted in her initial symptoms, and led to chronic pain and suffering for the last 30 years.
Treatment
We have started treating Sue in our office. He treatment will include a proper analysis of her bite, as well as appliance therapy, and a permanent solution which will include restoration of her bite on the right side to allow the jaw joint to relax into its normal position, preventing it from moving backwards into the ear canal.
If you have similar symptoms, call our office for a consultation.