Association Between Subjective Tinnitus and Cervical Spine or Temporomandibular Disorders: A Systematic Review.
E J Bousema, E A Koops, P van Dijk and 1 others
PMID 30269683WHAT IT FOUND
People with subjective tinnitus are significantly more likely to have temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and cervical spine disorders (CSD) than those without tinnitus.
This association is bidirectional for TMD, meaning jaw problems also predict tinnitus presence.
Key findings
01Patients with tinnitus have an average of 2.6 times greater risk of reporting cervical spine disorders (CSD) and 6.7 times greater risk of reporting temporomandibular disorders (TMD) compared to controls.
02The association between tinnitus and TMD is bidirectional: patients with tinnitus report more TMD, and patients with TMD report more tinnitus.
03The association between tinnitus and CSD appears unidirectional, as no included studies investigated whether patients with CSD have an increased probability of experiencing tinnitus.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The overall level of evidence is low because none of the included studies were high-quality; most lacked blinding, random selection, or matched controls. Tinnitus severity was not measured in any study; only the presence or absence of tinnitus was recorded, usually via a single question. Publication bias was identified, suggesting the true strength of the association may be weaker than the reported odds ratios. Most studies were cross-sectional, so they cannot prove that one condition causes the other. The definition of 'cervical spine disorder' varied across studies and often relied on non-validated questionnaires or simple palpation.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding sources were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this association as evidence that treating the neck or jaw will reduce tinnitus. This review only shows that these conditions occur together more often than chance; it does not evaluate the effectiveness of any treatment.