Assessment Of The Effect Of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Related Temporamandibular Joint Problems On Tinnitus

The pelvic floor serves as stability and support as it is the postural balance and core resource base for the pelvic organs. A dysfunction in the organs in this area can affect the pelvic floor muscles, the functioning of an organs in the muscles. Incontinence organ prolapse, pelvic pain and sexual problems may occur when the support or stability of the pelvic floor is impaired. Pelvic floor novelization is not always seen weakness. Sometimes excessive contractions and excessive activity in muscle tone can be seen. Stress and anxiety-related tension are the main causes of pelvic floor dysfunctions. Involuntary contractions and excessive muscle tone in the pelvic floor muscles cause chronic pelvic pain syndrome, constipation and dyssynergic defecation problems. Some of these patients have complaints of tightening teeth in the temporamandibular joint, grinding teeth at night, together with contractions in the pelvic floor.

Diagnosis of patients in the temporamandibular joint is very difficult for the clinician. The difficulty of identifying etiological factors and the fact that dysfunction is associated with multifactorial factors make it mandatory to use different assessment methods in diagnosing patients with Temporamandibular joint dysfunction (TMD). One of the indexes used to diagnose TMD patients in a healthy population is the" Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI)". The low cost and easy applicability of the index make it preferred for TMD patients at the stage of diagnosis (Ayalı ve Ramoğlu, 2014; Türken vd., 2020).

In the pathogenesis of TMD, parafunctional habits such as day and night tooth tightening, tooth grinding, nail eating, lip biting, cheek biting, pen biting, chewing gum play an important role. It has been reported that there is often a positive correlation between TMD and parafunctional habits. "Oral Behavior Checklist (OBC)" is used in the diagnosis of such oral habits (Güngör, 2019; Türken vd., 2020).

It is thought that this dysfunctional condition in the temporamandibular joint may cause tinnitus in patients. The fact that tinnitus is subjective and an unsolved symptom related to the mechanisms of its occurrence makes it difficult to obtain objective assessment and concrete data. For this reason, the evaluation of tinnitus is again possible by perceptual measurement. For this purpose, psychoacoustic tests such as tinnitus intensity and frequency matching, maskability, residual inhibition, and verbal, numerical, and visual rating scales are used to evaluate tinnitus (Meikle vd., 2008). The Tinnitus Disability Questionnaire is the only scale with validity and reliability in Turkish and is widely used in our country to determine the level of tinnitus (Aksoy vd., 2007).

Although the use of scale is an important tool in determining the level of tinnitus, it is difficult for each person to express their condition as it is. It is known that some patients may exaggerate or underestimate their complaints, each scale has strengths and weaknesses, and sensitivity may vary depending on the therapy used. Since most of the scales are developed in English, it should be considered that when applied to different cultures and socio-economic groups, there may be changes in specificity and sensitivity (Langguth vd., 2006). For this reason, the addition of a structured interview form as a standard in addition to the scale strengthens the opinion of the clinician.

Accordingly, it is expected that temporamandibular joint loosens after treatment applications in patients with pelvic floor dysfunction. As a result of this relaxation, we believe that there may be a decrease in the level of tinnitus felt in patients.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pelvic floor improvement on tinnitus level as a result of dysfunctional condition in temporamandibular joint with treatment practices of pelvic floor patients with excessive muscle activity.