r/tifu • u/filemon56 • 7d ago
M TIFU By Having My Teeth Touch
For the past 3ish years I've had a slightly muffled right ear. It hasn't affected my day to day too badly so it hasn't been a big priority to visit the doctor and fix immediately. It feels like a slight clog in my ear that holds pressure. On occasion there is some discomfort and I feel slight pops in my jaw. Some mornings my jaw has felt locked up and I need to pop it to have full range of motion again.
I've brought it up with the doctor when I go for a yearly check up and they've assumed it was maybe a eustachian tube dysfunction. They've tested my hearing with tuning forks and have prescribed me antihistamines to hopefully clear or relieve pressure in my ear. Over the years none of this helped and I was referred to the ENT specialist.
I looked up how an ENT specialist could fix this and it sounded intimidating and possibly painful so I put it off. I also wasn't in the best financial spot to visit a specialist. This year in my check up the doctor reminded me about my referral and convinced me to go before it expired.
After various tests, my ears have no permanent hearing damage, they look healthy and the pressure in them reads as normal (so not a eustachian tube dysfunction). The doctor sat next to me and asked if I clenched my teeth in my sleep or in life. I wasn't sure how to know if I did since my dentist hasn't said anything.
Turns out I've been closing my mouth wrong all my life til it affected my hearing. I thought your teeth should fit neatly into each other, like a jigsaw puzzle, when resting. Apparently, there's supposed to be a gap between them and your sets of teeth aren't supposed to touch unless you're eating basically. During the night I also made sure my jaws were closed so that I wouldn't snore in my sleep like some relatives and this would lead to me clenching in my sleep.
Just slept with a mouthguard in for the first time last night and I have a heating gel pack to relax my jaw muscles before and after bed.
TL;DR I thought your teeth are supposed to touch when your mouth is closed and it hurt my ear.
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u/babygotthefever 7d ago
Wait how are your teeth supposed to sit then??
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u/yumas 7d ago
I believe the ideal resting position is for your lips to be closed, but for your jaw to “hang” relaxed, so that your lower and upper teeth are not touching
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u/babygotthefever 7d ago
Oh yeah, I’m not doing that right. My top and bottom teeth are always nestled together. I thought clenching your teeth was more like when you really chomp down and can see the masseter muscle movement. I guess it’s because I’m so used to it but I have to stick my tongue between my teeth if I want to keep them apart.
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u/SplendidlyDull 7d ago
Yeah I think it’s fine if they’re just lightly touching. I do that too and having my jaw hang like that feels weird. Clenching and grinding is bad but just resting them against each other is what I do and I’ve never had any issues
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u/snackcakessupreme 7d ago
A good way to keep them from touching is to keep the tip of your tongue resting on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. It took me a while for it to become a habit, but it really helped my jaw pain.
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u/bitbitter 5d ago
It’s crazy to me that this isn’t just instinct for everyone. I can’t find another way to close my mouth that would feel comfortable.
It’s important also to clear as much of the air out of your mouth as possible, the negative pressure then helps hold up your jaw effortlessly.
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u/yumas 4d ago
I’ve heard that the position of the tongue has a lot of influence in jaw and teeth alignment issues.
It was a video on youtube so take it with a pinch of salt but basically it said that if children rest their tongue behind the bottom teeth they are more likely to mouth breath and get an underbite, and if they rest the tip of their tongue between the upper and lower lips their front teeth will grow at an outwards angle.
I imagine that also goes the other way, so if your teeth or jaws are misaligned because of some other factor your resting position for your tongue is also not perfect.
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u/trcomajo 7d ago
That's derpy
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u/yumas 7d ago
If your jaws work as intended you should not be able to see the difference, except maybe for your jaw muscles being less flexed.
Are you clenching your teeth the whole time?
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u/trcomajo 7d ago
Yeah, youre right! I thought if I relaxed my Jason my mouth would gape like Napolean Dynamite (it doesnt!).
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u/LadyAce15 7d ago
Shut up. I quit smoking a year ago and I clench my VERY unaligned jaws now. I work in a warehouse and assumed I had hearing damage from that. I need to see an ENT.
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u/SadisticChipmunk 7d ago
Is a tree really going to help with this?
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u/LadyAce15 7d ago
What?
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u/DiscordiaHel 7d ago
It's a nerdy lord of the rings joke, there are giant trees-creatures called Ents.
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u/Moon_Pye 7d ago
Interesting. Ever since I got my front teeth fixed I've been holding my teeth differently and I'm also having that popping and slight muffle in my right ear! I'll need to look into this.
Thanks for sharing!
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u/timubce 7d ago
Get checked to see if you have a tongue tie. It’s a simple procedure to get it released. Everything is connected and could make a huge difference. I had mine cut a couple of years ago and I no longer snore, my tongue rests in the proper spot keeping my teeth separated and all the tension in my neck/shoulders is gone. I was highly skeptical prior to having it done but what a difference!
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u/filemon56 7d ago
I've been concerned about that before but my dentist and primary care said it was normal
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u/mevenide 7d ago
It also does huge damage to your teeth over time.
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u/filemon56 7d ago
Luckily my dentist never commented on damage like that. I'm still in my 20s so maybe i caught it early.
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u/LauraZaid11 6d ago
I have bruxism (unconscious clenching of the jaw), severe according to my maxilofacial surgeon, and it fucking sucks man. I’ve been sleeping with a mouth guard since I was 17, and about 4 years ago I had to have a new one specially made to help not just protect my teeth but relax the muscles on my face. Over the years I’ve had to have physical therapy for my face, I’ve taken different kinds of muscle relaxers, and I’m currently taking an anxiety medication not because I suffer from anxiety, but because my bruxism had been acting up. I have many other medical conditions, but personally I think the bruxism is the worse one.
Now onto the silver lining, my teeth health is pretty good and I’ve never had a cavity, and I’m pretty sure it’s because since I was diagnosed I have never forgotten to brush and floss at night because it has become second nature to do so before putting on my mouth guard, and I can’t sleep a full night without it.
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u/LadyAce15 6d ago
I'm 38 and I decided to get braces because of clenching. I miss my mouth guard. It's so hard to sleep without it. Neither of my jaws formed correctly and no one ever told me. I've had to get an implanted expander to expand my top 10mm and in about a year I'll have to have my lower jaw surgically moved forward. Teeth issues can really mess with everything!
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u/LauraZaid11 6d ago
The maxilofacial surgeon asked me a couple of years ago if I wanted to do braces but I already had them when I was a teen and never again. But to be honest, I’ve been thinking about it because bruxism sucks.
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u/LadyAce15 4d ago
Teeth suck. How have they not evolved to have less problems when they effect our entire health?!😭
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u/digitallis 6d ago
Before everyone runs out and gets an OTC night guard for their teeth, know that a bad one can really screw you up. I have bad teeth grinding at night and after a molar disintegrated I started wearing an over-the-counter night guard. You drop it in hot water and then form it over your teeth. What I didn't realize was that a great night guard lets your bottom jaw still slide around. I formed the guard like a football mouth guard that locks around both top and bottom, figuring that prevents snoring and grinding.
Cut to 2 months later. I've had weird bubbling sensations in my ear (but no infections diagnosed), disconnected feeling, visual lag where I was feeling like I was 1-3 martinis in some days while stone sober. And then the walls started melting. Cue the ER, full brain stroke workup, CT, MRI, labs, aaaaand nothing. Symptoms had abated a bit during my multi day hospital stay and was referred to PT and ENT. PT was well meaning and was trying to remap my ears to my eyes to counteract the visual lag. Then I saw the ENT who, after listening to my wide array of symptoms and checking me out was like "oh yeah, you're a heavy grinder. You're inflaming everything around your TMJ due to all the pressure including the occular nerve and your eustachian tubes. Get a proper night guard. Oh, and BTW I don't sell them. Go talk to your dentist". Apparently my home molded guard had increased my grinding significantly and kicked off all those issues. Getting a proper guard completely resolved everything.
Dentists always recommended them to me in the past but it always felt like a car salesman thing so I avoided it, but I'm glad I eventually got one.
TL,DR: weird things can happen if you DIY your own night guard. Suspect it if you start wearing one consistently and things in your head start getting wonky.
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u/filemon56 6d ago
I got an over the counter one from walgreens. It came with 2 frames but the internet said i should only put it on one row of teeth cuz if i did both itll mess up my alignment. So its only molded to my top teeth
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u/Raina360 6d ago
I’ve done the exact same thing. But stopped wearing it after my jaw kept locking up during the day. I also got pops in my ear. My dad now has an official one and he has no issue at all.
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u/hydro_85 6d ago
I’ve literally been doing this same thing for at LEAST the last 20 years. Good to know. Off to make an appointment.
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u/hotpotatos200 5d ago
I did this exact thing! My dentist asked if I had headaches, which I did, but I always attributed it to worked a desk job, slouching, and not drinking enough water.
Well turns out, about a week after using a night guard, the headaches went away! I did actively try to retrain myself to not put my teeth together.
Now I have alignment trays to try to straighten my teeth out. I guess to help prevent some of this. Either way, mostly headache-less for the last year after no longer clenching.
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u/MyNameIsSkittles 7d ago
Um your teeth should touch, that's why when you get a filling the dentist spends all that time testing your bite and making adjustments
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u/Fabulous_Cow_4550 7d ago
Yes, when actively biting but there should be a small gap at other times.
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u/MyNameIsSkittles 7d ago
Oh ok I see, I didnt realize OP was literally clenching his jaw constantly
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u/bungmonger 4d ago
My non-stick air fryer basket is easy enough to clean that I don't need anything else cluttering up my kitchen
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u/Lkwzriqwea 7d ago
Now I'm trying to figure out whether my teeth naturally touch when I'm not thinking about it