Laser acupuncture relieves pain in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders.

Laser acupuncture help relieve pain in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders. It is reported in Journal of Formosan Medical Association.

Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) are conditions affecting jaw joint, including pain, dysfunction of mastication muscles and temporomandibular joint. The symptoms comprise pain in the joint area and nearby, reduced jaw movement, noise from temporomandibular joint during jaw movement. TMD is a common problem affecting 20-40% of people aged between 20 and 40 and can become chronic and difficult to manage, leading to a detrimental to quality of life. It is thought the cause of TMD include wear and tear to the inside of the joint, arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis and gout, and injury to the joint. Conventional treatments include medication, local injection and surgery which can relieve symptoms but are not always satisfactory.

Scientists in Taiwan ran a clinical study to evaluate the effectiveness of laser acupuncture on TMD. Twenty patients with TMD were treated with laser acupuncture at four acupoints (ST6, ST7, LI4 and Ashi point) once a week for total four weeks. The Visual Analogue Scale (1-10) was used to measure pain intensity before and after treatment.

At the end of treatment the average pain score was significantly reduced from 6.3±1.6 before treatment to 2.5±2.2 after treatment. Six of 17 patients with TMD felt pain free and 11 of 17 patients showed various degree of pain relief following the treatment. There was no adverse effect after treatment.

The study indicates that laser acupuncture could be an effective alternative treatment for temporomandibular joint disorders.

Reference:

Huang YF et al., Clinical effectiveness of laser acupuncture in the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association (2014)113, 535e539.   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929664612003944