Auriculotherapy used to manage orthodontic pain: a randomized controlled pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: Several methods are commonly used to decrease orthodontic pain, but versatile tools and standardized protocols are still lacking. Objective: In response to the need for alternatives to conventional analgesic methods, this study evaluates the analgesic effects of auriculotherapy (AT) during the first three months of fixed orthodontic treatment. Methods: A sample of 36 subjects was selected, with patients randomly allocated into two homogeneous groups, Study Group (SG) and Control Group (CG), depending on the application/non-application of AT. Patients rated their pain scores monthly from 0 to 10, on visual analogue scales (VAS) at the time of bonding (T0) and again at two appliance adjustments (T1 and T2). At each of these treatment phases, VAS was applied in six different time moments (TM): immediately before, immediately after, after 4 hours, after 8 hours, after 24 hours, and after 72h hours. Descriptive statistical analysis, a Student’s t-test, and a Chi-square test were applied to the collected data (statistical significance for p< 0.05). Results: SG patients reported lower pain levels than CG patients, both at T0, T1 and T2. Moreover, average pain intensity values were lower in the SG for all TM analyzed, with the t-test significant (p< 0.05) for most TMs. Conclusion: AT was effective in the pain treatment of patients with fixed orthodontic appliances. Further studies are needed with a sham control group to confirm the validity of these results.

O uso da auriculoterapia como prática integrativa à saúde: revisão integrativa

“…As 28 produções analisadas são oriundas de 20 periódicos diferentes, sendo que o número de participantes entre os grupos variou, significativamente, de 21 a 220 indivíduos. Destas publicações, 13 estudos são originados do Brasil [21][22][23][24]29,[31][32]35,38,40,43,45,48 (46,43%), quatro do Irã [26][27][28]30 (14,29%), quatro da China 37,44,[46][47] (14,29%) e uma publicação (3,57%) em cada um dos respectivos países Itália, 39 Egito, 36 Estados Unidos, 41 Índia, 42 Espanha, 25 França, 33 México. 34 Destacam-se três artigos encontrados no ano de 2017 32,34,41 (10,71%), nove em 2018 [23][24][30][31]35,38,43,45,48 (32,14%), seis em 2019 22,25,33,37,40,44 (21,43%), seis em 2020 21,[27][28]…”

Auriculoterapia no tratamento da dor: uma revisão de literatura

“…Um protocolo com pontos auriculares específicos para dor foi utilizado, tais como She Men, subcórtex e occipital, e pontos relacionados a localização da dor, como boca e maxilar, avaliando-se os resultados por meio de escala visual de dor. Os pesquisadores observaram que os pacientes tratados com auriculoterapia tiveram menores percepções de dor, concluindo que a mesma pode ser uma via analgésica alternativa no tratamento da dor ortodôntica, desde a instalação dos aparelhos ortodônticos fixos até as manutenções/ajustes conseguintes (Serritella et al, 2020).…”