A follow-up study of subjective symptoms of temporomandibular disorders in patients who received acupuncture and/or interocclusal appliance therapy 18-20 years earlier

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

There are some patients who do not respond to treatment for temporomandibular disorders.

Main

Bergström I, List T, et al. Acta Odontol Scand 2008; 66: 88–92

In the short term, a variety of different therapies are associated with the relief of symptoms for temporomandibular disorders (TMD). There is less data on long term outcomes. Sixty-five subjects, who had received treatment comprising acupuncture and/or interocclusal appliance therapy in a specialist TMD clinic, 18-20 years earlier, were mailed by a questionnaire asking a range of questions about long-term improvements. 'A total loss of 31% of the original patient sample', as stated in the discussion, would appear to be the drop-out from this study. Of those that completed the questionnaire, 90% reported that they had experienced severe symptoms before treatment and this had decreased to 40% after 18-20 years. Despite the majority of patients reporting long lasting improvements, previous TMD patients who have received treatment still suffered more symptoms 20 years later than the overall population.