The most effective acupuncture method for relieving pain and increasing mouth opening in temporomandibular disorder patients is DN-PT according to the network meta-analysis.
The methodology involved collecting data through computer retrieval from various English and Chinese databases including Cochrane, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP. These databases were perused for randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of acupuncture on temporomandibular disorders. The pain score was the primary outcome measure, and the mouth opening was the secondary outcome measure. The data was later analyzed using R software and the Bayesian method.
In the discussion of results, researchers found 35 relevant articles which included 1937 temporomandibular disorder patients. The Network Meta-Analysis (NMA) was used to compare these various acupuncture methods. Results suggest that the method known as DN-PT had the highest positive impact on relieving pain and improving mouth opening in these patients. However, it was noted that some acupuncture therapies were only reported in a limited number of studies, which may lead to increased randomness in the results and reduced reliability.
