Pressure Pain Threshold of Jaw Muscles in TMD Patients Submitted to a Conservative Treatment

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that is one of the main symptoms of temporomandibular disorder (TMD). One way to assess pain is through algometry. The aim of this study was to evaluate, by the pressure pain threshold measurements, the efficacy of a short-term conservative treatment for the management of temporomandibular disorders. This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial where 84 participants were diagnosed with myofascial pain according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD), with a mean age of 44 years old ranging from 18 to 76 years old. These individuals were asked about parafunctional habits and the treatment was applied by providing an explanation concerning the role of pain, possible aetiological factors of the patient's TMD, the relationship between chronic pain and psychosocial distress, and its benign character. They also had to perform once daily application of hot packs on both sides of the face for 20 minutes and after that they must perform active free therapeutic exercise of mouth opening for 10 times. The pressure pain threshold of the masseter and temporalis muscles and the lateral pole of the condyle were obtained at baseline (T0), between 15 and 30 days after (T1) and at 75 to 90 days after (T2) representing the end of the treatment. Two groups of subjects were obtained. The first was considered the study group (SG) and included those who underwent the treatment proposed. The control group (CG) consisted of participants who did not undergo treatment because they did not believe in it.