The Board denied service connection for chronic bilateral hearing loss disability, chronic tinnitus, a chronic temporomandibular joint disorder, and a chronic dental disorder. The veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the award of a 30 percent evaluation for his chronic bilateral maxillary sinusitis was also denied.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the veteran's chronic bilateral hearing loss disability, chronic tinnitus, temporomandibular joint disorder, and dental disorder were not related to service or secondary to any service-connected condition. The claim for an earlier effective date for the 30 percent evaluation was also denied as there was no evidence of a worsening of his maxillary sinusitis prior to November 20, 2001.
- Claimed conditions
- chronic bilateral hearing loss disability, chronic tinnitus, chronic temporomandibular joint disorder, chronic dental disorder, chronic respiratory disorder
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 2, 2008
- Citation
- 0814540
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter of entitlement to service connection for a chronic respiratory disorder due to inadequate VA opinions and failure to substantially comply with previous remand instructions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for various conditions to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's chronic respiratory disorder is related to service, specifically his treatment for bronchitis during service.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for a chronic respiratory disorder, including pulmonary fibrosis, finding that there was no causal relationship between his current condition and his military service. The appeal is based on exposure to ionizing radiation during Operation HARDTACK I, but the dose assessment provided by DTRA did not support the conclusion of radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
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