[Effect of two different kinds of occlusal splints on temporomandibular disorders]

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of relaxed splint and stabilized splint on the treatment of temporomandibular disorders (TMD).

Methods: A total of 68 TMD patients were divided into 2 groups (30 patients with acute pain and 38 patients with chronic pain) and treated with relaxed splint or stabilized splint. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores and electromyography (EMG) of bilateral anterior temporal muscle (TA) and masseter muscle (MM) were recorded before treatment and 1 month after treatment. The data was analyzed using variance analysis and student's t test with SPSS11.0 software package.

Results: At rest position, patients' EMG decreased remarkably (P<0.05) after both kinds of splints treatment. During maximal voluntary clench, the EMG of masticatory muscle (TA, MM) of patients with acute pain and EMG of MM of patients with chronic pain increased significantly after relaxed splint treatment (P<0.05), but only EMG of MM increased significantly after stabilization splint treatment (P<0.05). Patients' VAS scores decreased remarkably after both kinds of splints treatment (P<0.05), but during function, patients' acute pain eased remarkably after relaxed splint treatment (P<0.05).

Conclusions: The relaxed splint and stabilized splint can relax the masticatory muscles and ease TMD pain, but relaxed splint has significant effect on the treatment of acute TMD patients. Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province (310126).