Found this site after searching for hearing aid reviews and information. Was shocked to see this section on this type of a forum. I think it’s great for comfort and help.
Still working with an Surgeon to figure out the cause of my SHL.
To try and keep a very long story short;
Had a dentist extract my upper wisdom teeth in lieu of an oral surgeon. He convinced me it was simple, he could perform it easily and would save me money. He ripped them out and the left one had bone still attached to the roots. He had also cracked the tooth in front of it. This was followed by botched crowns and I was in severe pain for quite a while that encompassed the whole left side of my head. I lost hearing in my left ear about a week after the surgery.
The inflamed oral nerves affected the nerves associated with my eustachian tube causing a disfunction. My ear drum was sucked in and the only way for me to hear temporarily was to pop it. This caused a floppy ear drum.
I had the cracked tooth removed, bone graft completed in my jaw and had an implant put in place which finally made the pain go away. I was referred to my final and current ENT. The last two have been wonderful, highly acclaimed and great to work with. They performed a laser surgery to tighten my eardrum which worked great. It improved my hearing but I still showed about a 40% loss.
Recent tests show that my inner ear or auditory nerve is not working correctly. Not only do I have a loss but they recorded a 0.68ms delay in my hearing. They fear a damaged nerve or growth on the nerve. Had an done and waiting on the results.
Not sure where to go from here. I haven’t been able to find anyone who has gone through it. All of the doctors I’ve met with are confused as to how this could have happened.
I may be too confident in the hearing loss stemming from the botched oral surgery but they seem to think otherwise. They are at least thinking that this ‘trauma’ could have damaged something but they’re not sure what or how.
You’re ignoring this member’s posts.
9JSDL6 people in this conversation12 min readJump to latest↓
Wow, that’s terrible. I hope they get to the bottom of it soon.
I had my bottom two removed a few years ago. It didn’t go especially well, even with a highly recommended oral surgeon. He pulled and pulled and finally had to cut them out, which seemed much easier than trying to break them loose (I was awake for it). I still had bits of bone get pushed up out of the wounds over the first few months. Had a dry socket on one side, painful for months.
Thanks, I appreciate it. Been dealing with the entire thing for over 3 years now and would like some closure. Other people in this world go through so much more so I definitely don’t feel sorry for myself. Putting my circumstance out there with the hope that someone who’s gone through something similar or more knowledgeable may have some answers. And you never know. If I find the answer then hopefully I can share it for someone else who may be looking.
Recently I’ve found research papers potentially linking the Cochlear Nerve with the Trigeminal Nerve (V2 & V3) since they do wind up in close proximity of each other before reaching the brain stem.
Wondering if I should visit a neurologist? Will check on next visit.
I just found this postwhich although late in answering, relates to my own circumstances.
I lived for 65 yearswith a dead left ear, and managed very well. November 2005, I had afront right upper tooth extracted by my dentist. Previous extractionshad been no trouble. But this one didn`t want to go, and he had toput in a lot of effort to succeed. The tooth had quite a long root,but fortunately it came out without any other damage.
Twenty four hourslater, I experienced a sudden hearing loss in my only good ear.Steroid tablets did no good, and the specialist could only offereither a vascular or virus problem as being the cause.
My explanation about the difficult tooth extraction being a possible cause, was totally ignored. I was fitted with a hearing aid, which didn`t help a lot,as I had lost the mid and low frequency hearing in that right ear. I struggled for several months, until I was referred to a clinic. I had all the tests that were going, and the outcome, was the hearing nerve had been badly damaged, and I was unsuitable for an implant.
You have to go through this, to realize it is life changing. I can no longer listen to music, and simple conversations are extremely difficult. I do have two aids, as the dead ear does have some low frequency hearing. It does help, although no one can explain how it works.
So you are the only other person in the world, who can link a tooth extraction to hearing loss. When this first happened, I tried to find answers without success. I doubt there are any, but you have found some sort of reason. My only hope is stem cell treatment, which is still a very long way off. Until then, we are both in the same boat!
Cheers.
Really sorry to read that John. I appreciate you posting for it sounds very similar. I wish more would post so that we could gather our experiences and approach the appropriate researcher or doctor. Maybe they could then find the cause and possibly a cure. If it at least prevents others from going through the same, then just as good as well.
I wonder how many have had the same happen to them but just don’t know it. I thought my hearing loss and botched tooth extraction were two separate matters for the first year.
After reading both stories I did a google search and came up with a number of people that had hearing loss after tooth extractions. I remember having my wisdom teeth extracted (I only had lower ones) and I got a dry socket on the left one. The dentist told me to come in immediately and started me on antibiotics and put Iodine patches in the affected socket. He told me that a dry socket if left unattended can cause all kind of problems with infections at other parts of the body, especially the head, so perhaps that is what happened to both of you. Here are a few of the articles I found. www.dentalplans.com/dental-information/dental.../dental-procedures-and-hearing-loss71
A 66-year-old man presented with impaired balance, tinnitus, sensation of blockage, and hearing loss in his left ear, which developed after dental treatment for dental pain 4 days previously. Treatment of the carious left upper second molar tooth had...
He told me that a dry socket if left unattended can cause all kind of problems with infections at other parts of the body, especially the head, so perhaps that is what happened to both of you.
No, that’s not what happened. I noted my circumstance in my original post.’
Thanks for the link with the report of hearing loss from wisdom tooth extraction. I’m going to send it to my hearing specialist.
In my circumstance, the dentist IS to blame with a botched tooth extraction. If it had been performed correctly, without all of the extreme pain, my hearing would be fine. I have contacted lawyers who have said it would be an easily proven case and would be anxious to take it however there is a pathetic 2 year statute of limitations for Texas and therefore nothing can be done to go after him.
In a couple of weeks I will be undergoing Tympanoplasty Surgery for my thin eardrum. This procedure will also include eustachian tube dilation.
I had laser surgery last year at this time for my hypermobile eardrum which helped some. It tightened it back up but it is so thin from illnesses when I was little that it slowly has been stretching back out. My ear surgeon has since suggested going under the knife to beef up my drum with cartilage from my ear and opening up my eustachian tube to help prevent it from happening further during allergy seasons.
Over the past year, I’ve had to turn my hearing aid up slightly every couple of months to compensate for the stretching of the drum. Both of my doctors have stated that this will keep happening unless I undergo further surgery. Hopefully these procedures will provide some minor improvement to my hearing so I won’t have my aid turned up so loud.
She is also going to investigate my middle ear for any potential disconnect or damage although she doubts she’ll find anything. Prior results of the tests she’s ran in the past show this to not be the issue.
The damage to my hearing stems from pain shock to my inner ear and so this shouldn’t rectify anything but I still do have a little bit of hope.
Will have a 6-8 week recovery time before I can wear an aid again.
Hello 9-R,
I am really sorry to hear about your situation. I was just searching the internet to understand why i am going through a hearing problem and i stumbled across yours.
It has been one week today since i had a tooth extraction from my right lower. It feels like i got water in my left ear. I can barely hear from it. Just came from the dental office for a check up and the doctor is suggesting that i might have an ear infection which i know i don’t. I will be consulting with my primary physician. I am just worried.
Did you ever find a solution to your hearing issue?
Nothing has improved but my eardrum is now built like a tank. The surgeon took cartilage from my outer ear to thicken up my ear drum. At the same time, she found that my middle ear bones were a mess and replaced them with a titanium unit. I wasn’t able to undergo the Eustachian tube dilation since my insurance wouldn’t cover it and my doctor didn’t think it was necessary after everything else she found and did.
I just had my final hearing test last week and unfortunately, no improvement in my hearing levels. I still have to use my hearing aid. However, I think because of the surgery/titanium, voices and sounds are more crisp and less muffled. I program my own hearing aid and I drastically had to change the settings. Although the level isn’t there, I do hear things much better now than I did before. She noted that is very possible since hearing tests can’t detect this change.
She believes I have two issues going on. One is too hard to explain with my middle ear without going into a long explanation and the other has to do with my inner ear which is the most important. From the scans, she believes the severe and prolonged pain that I received from the wisdom tooth extraction shocked the area and caused the bone surrounding my inner ear to dissipate and create a hole not allowing the full sound pressure/vibration to enter my inner ear. She’s shocked that I don’t have sound vertigo. Although, I now have an uneasy feeling when I exert myself that I never had before. There is a surgery that could be completed to fill in the hole but it is extremely risky since it is right next to the brain and could jeopardize a lot more than my hearing. We both agreed it wasn’t the right direction so I will have to live with this loss forever.
** Les, if I were you, I’d very quickly find the best doctor in your area and pay them a visit before I would a primary physician. One of the things that occurred to me that might be affecting you is Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. From what I’ve read, the bottom jaw nerves run closer to the ear nerves and Eustachian tube than the upper jaw. If those nerves are inflamed, they can cause the same to the Eustachian tube nerves and make it restrict and lock up, not allowing air flow between your throat and middle ear. When this happens, you develop either an overly positive or negative pressure in your middle ear. This will decrease your hearing, sounding muffled, and can feel like your in a plane or have water in your ear. If prolonged, this will stretch out your eardrum and the only way to make it tight again is through laser surgery or the cartilage enforcement like I underwent. The doctor can hopefully provide a way for the tube muscles to relax. Simple pain medication did not work for me. I had to eliminate the source of the pain through another oral surgery that corrected all of the damage. I still have tube dysfunction some during allergy season but with my new built up ear drum, the negative pressure no longer sucks it in which is awesome. I only have a slight muffled sound.
Really hope this helps and I pray that you find a solution.
A blog about TMJ-Dysfunctions, Orthodontics/Orthopedics, GNM/NM Dentistry and Health.
The Trigeminal Nerve is subdivided into three branches.
V2 is the middle division of the Trigeminal nerve and gives general sensory to the nerve branches to the zygomatic, infraorbital areas (outer nasal, upper lip), upper teeth, eye, palatal, posterior nasal areas, pharyngeal area and the meningies.
V3 is the lower division of the Trigeminal nerve and gives sensory to the buccal, tongue, lower teeth, frontal ear and acoustic areas, the temporomandibular joint areas and meningies.
Pressure regulation of the Eustachian Tube is regulated by three muscles including the Tensor Veli Palatini (TVP).
The TVP is innervated by the V3 division of the trigeminal nerve and lies in close anatomical proximity to the medial pterygoid. When there is pain occurring from primary pain source, the effects spread to other muscles that share the same nerve supply. Dysfunction in muscles causes excitation and resulting in unnecessary sustained contraction of a muscle. In the case of the TVP muscle, this sustained contraction causes the lumen of the Eustachian Tube to remain patent at rest and pressure build up.
This is such a great response. Thanks! I am 5?weeks out from cartilage graft tympanoplasty with ear tube surgery due to severe for 65 years causing stage 4 retraction. I am hoping that when my tube comes out my Eustachian tube will work better and my awful ear fullness will resolve. Are you able to fly without sided, earplanes etc?
Happy to keep this posting alive. Am shocked someone found it after all this time.
I’m not sure what you mean by your question about flying.
I haven’t been able to fly in a commercial jet in a while. My ears become very stuffy, painful, and muffled with a loss of hearing for about a week. My family and I recently took a trip up Pike’s Peak which had major elevation change. On my way back down, the same thing happened to me. I recently had a follow up appointment. I have fluid in my inner ear and the doctor is afraid I may have permanent hearing loss if we’re unable to get rid of it and/or if I fly again.
