The effect of specially designed and managed occlusal devices on patient symptoms of tinnitus: A cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Bioesthetic maxillary anterior guided orthoses (BMAGOs) were designed and adjusted to establish the mandibular location referred to as stable seated condylar position SSCP. This study demonstrates treatment efficacy of this device on tinnitus. METHODS: All patients had histories of temporomandibular disorder (TMD), head, neck and shoulder pain. Each patient wore the BMAGO at all times, eating, talking and sleeping with it functioning as a surrogate occlusion. Patients were seen every two weeks for adjustments. They were provided a self-reporting numeric rating scale (NRS) beginning each visit. NRS scores ranged from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest intensity pain for 12 TMD symptoms including tinnitus. RESULTS: A significant decrease of tinnitus symptoms (p<.001) were recorded for all effected patients by visit #12. CONCLUSIONS: These findings firmly support symptomatic reduction of tinnitus.

The effect of specially designed and managed occlusal devices on patient symptoms and pain: a cohort study.

There is limited data regarding the benefit of using an occlusal device to help patients resolve a variety of symptoms involving temporomandibular disorder, as well as head, neck, and shoulder pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a carefully adjusted occlusal device on 12 symptoms to determine if there was enough evidence to justify a randomized control trial of this methodology. Splints were designed to ensure a stable, reproducible, mandibular position in a cohort of 157 dental patients with mixed histories of the following 12 symptoms: temporomandibular joint "pop," "click," and lock; jaw, neck, shoulder, and mouth-opening pain; headache; earache; tinnitus; and clenching and grinding of teeth. The results showed significant improvement (P < 0.001) in 11 of the 12 symptoms.