Treatment of Temporomandibular Disorders Using Stabilizing Appliance Therapies in a General Dental Practice Setting

Objectives: Objective: 52 patients seeking care and treatment for craniofacial pain and temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) were drafted for a prospective research study. The study was to assess the relationship between the relief of symptoms and the use of specific stabilizing oral appliances (pivots).
Methods: Method: After standard clinical examinations and questionnaires, maxillary or mandibular stabilizing appliances were fabricated based upon individual grinding patterns. The patients were asked to fill out a comprehensive craniofacial pain, headache and TMJ information and history survey. Each patient was additionally asked to fill out a pain diary on his or her symptoms at subsequent appointments. The pain diaries where updated every 3-6 weeks to follow patient progression throughout treatment. Each symptom was ranked using the VAS scale.
Results: Results: Before treatment the average patient had over 5 symptoms. On average women had more symptoms than men. Symptoms post treatment were weighted as same, better, absent or worse. Of the 266 symptoms noted as present before treatment 32 (12%) were unchanged; 232 (87%) improved, with 89 (33%) of this group reporting symptoms as showing completely absent; and 5 (2%) were found to be worse.
Conclusions: Conclusion: It has been established that a TMJ assessment is of significant importance in the overall examination of a patient, especially at a young age. Recognizing a potential temporomandibular disorder (TMD) at an early stage may allow intervention to avoid further complications and comorbidities. Stabilizing appliance therapy (SAT) for temporomandibular disorders from the present study seems to provide significant relief from most symptoms tracked in this study.