Bruxism and Tinnitus Explained: What Teeth Grinding Has to Do with the Ringing in Your Ears

Introduction

You wake up with a sore jaw. By lunchtime, a dull pressure builds behind your ear. Later that evening, a quiet ringing creeps in — constant, high-pitched, and untraceable. It might seem unrelated, but if you clench your jaw under stress or grind your teeth at night, the two symptoms may share the same root cause.

At Maple Dental Health dentistry in Vaughan, we see this combination more often than most people realize. Patients come in for tooth sensitivity or jaw tension and casually mention a sound in their ears they can’t seem to shake. That’s when we start asking deeper questions — not about the ears themselves, but about what’s happening just beside them.

This is a detailed guide to the connection between bruxism and tinnitus — not just what links them, but how we identify, treat, and help manage them together.

Understanding Bruxism: More Than a Bad Habit

Bruxism is the medical term for grinding or clenching your teeth. It can happen during the day, often when you're under stress or focused, or at night while you sleep — completely unconsciously.

Not everyone who grinds their teeth knows they do it. But over time, signs start to show.

Signs and Symptoms of Bruxism:

• Flat, worn, or chipped teeth
• Tooth sensitivity (without decay or gum issues)
• Sore or tight jaw, especially in the morning
• Headaches around the temples
• Clicking or popping of the jaw
• Gum recession not explained by brushing habits
• Facial fatigue or tension

These signs show up across all age groups, but many patients don’t seek help until secondary symptoms appear — like ear pressure, ringing, or a feeling of fullness that ENT evaluations fail to explain.

What Is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is the perception of sound that doesn’t have an external source. It can be constant or intermittent, affect one or both ears, and range in volume or tone. While commonly described as a high-pitched ringing, it can also sound like hissing, buzzing, clicking, or pulsing.

Most tinnitus patients assume the cause lies in the ears. That’s understandable — many cases are linked to noise exposure, age-related hearing loss, or nerve damage. But when ear tests come back normal, and symptoms seem to vary with jaw movement or stress, it’s time to look elsewhere.

That’s where dental involvement becomes essential.

Can Teeth Grinding Cause Tinnitus?

Yes — teeth grinding and tinnitus can absolutely be connected. But to understand how, we need to look at the anatomy.

Your temporomandibular joints (TMJs) — the hinges that connect your lower jaw to your skull — sit just millimeters in front of your ear canals. The jaw muscles, ligaments, and nerves in this area are tightly packed, with shared neurological and vascular pathways.

When you grind your teeth or clench your jaw:

• The muscles become overactive and inflamed
• The TMJs absorb repeated stress and may become misaligned or irritated
• The surrounding nerves and blood vessels experience pressure or displacement

Over time, this local tension can create referred sensations, where your brain misinterprets the strain as sound. That’s where the ringing or pulsing begins — even though your inner ear is technically healthy.

So yes: can bruxism cause tinnitus? In many cases, especially when jaw symptoms are present, it absolutely can.

Bruxism and Pulsatile Tinnitus

Pulsatile tinnitus is a rhythmic, heartbeat-like sound in the ear. It’s often caused by vascular issues — but in some patients, especially those with jaw dysfunction, bruxism contributes to the sensation.

How?

Grinding and clenching strain the blood vessels and muscular tissue surrounding the TMJs. As tension builds, changes in blood flow or localized inflammation can create a subtle pulsing sound — amplified by proximity to the auditory canal.

Bruxism and pulsatile tinnitus are less commonly discussed together, but in clinical practice, we’ve seen cases where managing jaw strain led to noticeable improvements in pulsatile symptoms.

Clinical Clues: When We Suspect the Connection

At Maple Dental Health, we take a full-mouth, whole-body approach to dental care. If a patient mentions ringing in the ears along with any of the following, we start evaluating for bruxism:

• Morning jaw soreness or limited mouth opening
• History of cracked fillings or teeth without trauma
• Tinnitus that worsens during stressful weeks
• Ear symptoms that improve or change with jaw movement
• Negative ENT or audiology evaluations
• A history of bite changes or tooth misalignment

It’s not a diagnosis we make lightly. We collaborate with your physician, ENT, or audiologist if needed. But when tinnitus doesn’t follow the usual pattern and bruxism is clearly present, we have reason to act.

Diagnostic Process

We start with:

• A thorough exam of the TMJs and facial muscles
• Bite analysis, including occlusal mapping
• Muscle palpation for tenderness or asymmetry
• Tooth wear inspection under magnification
• If needed, digital bite scanning to measure alignment

If tinnitus is reported, we track whether it intensifies during chewing, jaw extension, or head posture changes — these are strong indicators of mechanical contribution.

How We Treat Bruxism to Help Ease Tinnitus

1. Custom Night Guard

Our first-line solution for sleep bruxism is a professionally fitted night guard. Unlike drugstore versions, ours are designed for your exact bite and tooth structure.

They:

• Reduce the pressure of clenching and grinding
• Protect the enamel and restorations from wear
• Support jaw alignment during sleep
• Decrease overactivation of jaw muscles (especially the temporalis and masseter)

Some patients report reduced ear pressure or noise within weeks of consistent use.

2. Occlusal Adjustment

If your bite is uneven or one side takes more load, we may recommend minor reshaping of certain tooth surfaces, or orthodontic planning if misalignment is severe. A poorly distributed bite keeps the jaw under constant strain — even when you're not grinding.

3. TMJ Muscle Therapy

We often refer to physiotherapists or massage therapists who specialize in TMJ dysfunction. Manual therapy, stretching, and postural correction can ease pressure on the jaw and surrounding structures — including areas linked to auditory processing.

4. Behavioural Coaching

Awake bruxism is often linked to anxiety, work posture, or unintentional habits. We provide coaching on jaw awareness, tongue posture, and techniques to keep the jaw relaxed during the day. For patients with stress-related symptoms, cognitive behavioural therapy can be helpful.

5. Botox (in select cases)

For severe clenching that doesn’t respond to conventional treatment, small doses of botulinum toxin injected into the jaw muscles can reduce grinding intensity. It’s not a first-line therapy, but for some patients, especially those with bruxism and tinnitus, it reduces muscle overactivity and associated ear symptoms.

What Patients Say

Some of our patients didn’t even realize they were grinding their teeth. They came in because of headaches or tinnitus, and only after a full assessment did we identify significant dental wear and muscular tension.

With treatment:

• The grinding became less intense
• Jaw pain diminished
• The ringing in their ears decreased in frequency or volume

Is it a guaranteed fix? Not always. But for the right patient, it’s a life-changing one.

When to Seek Help

You should book a dental evaluation if:

• Your tinnitus started after a dental issue or jaw injury
• It gets worse during stressful periods
• You also notice jaw pain, stiffness, or bite changes
• You’ve ruled out ear infections and hearing loss
• You wear down dental restorations or grind in your sleep

Tinnitus is complex, but when bruxism and tinnitus appear together, the dental contribution is worth exploring.

Final Thoughts

Tinnitus doesn't always begin in the ears. For many patients, especially those with high-stress jobs, history of clenching, or undiagnosed bite issues, the sound may be coming from the strain they carry in their jaw.

At Maple Dental Health, we look beyond symptoms and connect the dots. If you’ve been told there’s no medical cause for your ringing — and you wake up with jaw tightness or damaged enamel — your answer may lie in your bite.

Let us take a closer look. Relief might be closer than you think.