Occlusal problems: Hearing symptoms in subjects with temporomandibular disorder.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between occlusal problems and hearing symptoms.

Methods: Electromyography, occlusion analysis, and hearing tests were performed on 24 patients with temporomandibular disorders and concurrent ear symptoms and 16 subjects in the control group.

Results: The null hypothesis of no statistically significant relationship between pure tone audiometry (PTA) values and disclusion times (DT) > 0.40 s and <0.40 s was rejected. There were statistically significant correlations between 0.25, 0.5, 1, 6, and 8 kHz airways of the right and left ear and 1 and 2 kHz bone conduction for disclusion times >0.40 s.

Conclusion: Reducing disclusion time to <0.40 s may ameliorate ear symptoms.