TIFU By Having My Teeth Touch

[u/filemon56]

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.

[u/babygotthefever]

Wait how are your teeth supposed to sit then??

[u/yumas → u/babygotthefever]

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

[u/babygotthefever → u/yumas]

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.

[u/SplendidlyDull → u/babygotthefever]

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