Auricular acupuncture in TMD — A sham-controlled, randomized, clinical trial
Aroca JP, Cardoso PMF, Favarão J, Zanini MM, Camilotti V, Busato MCA, Mendonça MJ, Alanis LRA · Complementary Therapies in Medicine · 2022 August
DOI 10.1016/j.ctcp.2022.101569
Objective
To evaluate the effect of auricular acupuncture (AA) on physical (PA) and emotional (EA) aspects of patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and compared the effect of AA with those of Sham and occlusal splints (OS).
Conclusions
In conclusion, this study demonstrated that auricular acupuncture (AA) applied at a specific temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ear point was able to bring about improvements in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), with outcomes similar to those in patients treated with an occlusal splints (OS).
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Insights
Auricular acupuncture was found to improve physical and emotional aspects in patients with temporomandibular disorders, with similar results to occlusal splint treatment.
In the study, patients suffering from temporomandibular disorders were allocated into three groups - those who received auricular acupuncture (AA), those treated with occlusal splints (OS), and a sham group. The patients were evaluated and monitored over an eight-week period using axes I and II of the RDC-TMD according to CONSORT guidelines.
The findings revealed significant improvements in both the emotional aspects and physical aspects amidst the auricular acupuncture group and occlusal splint group. The sham group showed no improvements in the emotional aspect and only a few in the physical aspect. The comparison between the auricular acupuncture group and the occlusal splint group revealed similar number of variables with improved outcomes, indicating that the auricular acupuncture treatment was as effective as the occlusal splint treatment. On the other hand, the sham group presented a significant difference when compared to the other groups. These results strongly suggest the potential of auricular acupuncture as a treatment option for temporomandibular disorders.
