Why does your ear hurt when you chew?

Pain in the ear when chewing and opening the mouth varies in character and intensity, depending on a variety of reasons. Patients may complain of painful sensations of a dull, aching nature, which intensify when opening the mouth. Such symptoms occur when there is a violation of the function of the temporomandibular joint or with mumps, acute tonsillitis.

With dental diseases, painful sensations in the ear are pulsating, intensifying towards night. Otitis media is characterized by sharp pains that intensify when opening the mouth, chewing food, swallowing. In addition to pain in the ears, during infectious processes, the body temperature usually rises, sweating and chills, dizziness and headaches, impaired coordination, and general malaise occur.

With trauma to the auricle, damage to the tympanic membrane, ingress of a foreign object or water, painful sensations are intense, sharp. Similar symptoms can occur when diving or while flying in an airplane due to the sudden pressure drop.

With sulfuric plugs, hearing is significantly reduced, and when the mouth is opened, a dull "tapping" appears in the ear.

Causes of pain

Inner ear inflammation (labyrinthitis), eustachitis. The eustachian tube connects the middle ear and pharynx. This causes pain in the ears when chewing.
Herpes of the trigeminal nerve.
Mumps, tonsillitis, pharyngitis.
Caries, malocclusion, exposure of the teeth to thermal and mechanical stimuli. This is due to the connection of the auricle and teeth with the trigeminal nerve.
Jaw injury, foreign object falling into the ear.
Inflammatory process affecting the jaw bone (osteomyelitis).
Arteritis of the facial artery.
Dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint.
Glossopharyngeal neuralgia.
Malignant tumors in the mouth and larynx.
Blockage of the ear canal with large amounts of wax.

In young children, teething can give off ear pain when opening the mouth. This is also the reason why children refuse food when their teeth are teething.

Diagnostics and treatment

If it hurts you to chew, and the pain radiates to the ear, you can not delay the visit to the doctor. It is imperative to find out the cause of this condition and immediately begin therapy.

After examining and collecting an anamnesis, the doctor decides if additional studies are needed:

Clinical and biochemical blood test.
Examining the ear with a targeted beam of light (otoscopy).
Magnetic resonance imaging.
Manometric studies.
Checking the mobility of the tympanic membrane (tympanometry).
Sound stimulus (performed to study the sound reflex).

Most likely, you will need advice from doctors of related specialties: a dentist and a maxillary surgeon. The treatment regimen is selected individually and depends on the reasons that caused the ear pain when chewing. As a conservative treatment, compresses, medicinal ointments, drops are locally prescribed. General therapy includes the use of antibacterial agents, physiotherapy procedures.

Despite all the variety of ear drops available in pharmacies, when the described symptoms appear, it is strongly recommended not to self-medicate, but to contact an otolaryngologist, since it is impossible to determine the cause of the painful condition without specialized education. However, how to choose an adequate treatment.

Preventive actions

Often, pain in the ear when chewing occurs as a complication of untreated infectious processes in the nose, throat, oral cavity, as well as in case of non-observance of hygiene of the ears and mouth. Often, after improvement of the condition, patients stop treatment of the underlying disease, which is fraught with the transition of the disease into a chronic form. It is important to take into account that the treatment process does not end with the extinction of symptoms, but when the attending physician decides. Sometimes questions arise, the answers to which can be found exclusively on the portal website. But there are general rules for all online casinos. For example, even if you haven’t entered your favorite portal for a long time and forgot your password, you cannot register for the second time in the same club. Forgot your old password, just contact support. They will help you to restore your account.

Prevention of ear pain when opening the mouth comes down to the following activities:

Avoiding hypothermia, tympanic membrane injury.
Strengthening the immune system, good nutrition, an active lifestyle.
Passage of a full-fledged treatment process of the underlying pathology.
Compliance with the rules of personal hygiene of the ear canals and oral cavity.
Timely treatment of teeth and diseases of the oral cavity.
Prevention of major diseases, adherence to the recommendations of the attending physician.