Acupuncture and laser acupuncture have shown high efficacy in reducing the severity of pain associated with temporomandibular disorders in the short-term.
This study performed a systematic review of randomized clinical trials that compared acupuncture and laser acupuncture to other treatments for temporomandibular disorders. Systematic searches were conducted on three electronic databases - PubMed, EMBASE, and SCOPUS - without any language restrictions. The study selection process excluded those that lacked clinical data or involved complex interventions. To analyze the selected trials, the Cochrane risk of bias tool was employed.
The evidence suggested that in the short-term, acupuncture lessened the severity of pain from temporomandibular disorders that originate from the muscles. Eleven trials met the inclusion criteria for the review and a meta-analysis was performed for a quantitative comparison of acupuncture and laser acupuncture against a placebo. It was revealed that both treatments displayed a higher rate of effectiveness than the placebo control group, with laser acupuncture demonstrating particularly strong results.
