Effect of Splint Therapy on Non-reducing TMJ Disc Displacement

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of splint therapy on non-reducing TMJ disc displacement. Methods: Thirty patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) participated. In all patients, the pretreatment magnetic resonance (MR) images showed anterior disc displacement without reduction. They showed almost or total remission of the symptoms by splint therapy alone. Post-treatment MR images of symptomatic side were compared with pretreatment ones. Results: All discs were still anteriorly displaced after splint therapy. Seven joints improved to reducing joints. In twenty-three joints (77%), disc state did not change. Joint effusion decreased or disappeared in eleven joints. Conclusion: In this study, splint therapy changed non-reducing joints to reducing ones in seven patients, but did not lead to re-establish a normal disc-condyle relationship in all patients with non-reducing disc displacement. From present results no association was found between the presence of TMD symptoms and the MR imaging diagnoses of anterior disc displacement. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) 15592056 from JSPS.