4) A Tomwaldt's cyst may progress to Tornwaldt's disease if it becomes infected or inflamed and produces symptoms such as eustachian tube dysfunction, otitis media, halitosis, pharyngitis, and occipital headache.

When your ears start to hurt as you change altitudes, either during takeoff or landing, they are sending a signal that the eustachian tube - the canal that leads from the middle ear to the back of the throat behind the nose - has failed to help equalize the pressure quickly enough, a common problem when a flier is congested or experiencing inflammation from even mild allergies or a cold.

One of the important effects of an abnormal swallow is that it may prevent the momentary tensioning of the soft palate, which normally causes the pharyngeal end of the eustachian tube (to which it is attached) to be opened intermittently, which drains the middle ear.