Association of facial massage, dry needling, and laser therapy in Temporomandibular Disorder: case report

Abstract

This case report aims to evaluate the treatment of Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) of muscular origin by associating facial massage (FM), dry needling (DN), and low-level laser therapy (LLLT). The pre- and post-treatment evaluations consisted of clinical examinations based on the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for TMD, pain intensity quantification by means of the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), mandibular movement measurement, and electromyographic (EMG) analysis of the masseter and temporal muscles. Post-therapy assessment indicated a decrease in pain sites of 58%, in pain intensity mean (1.3), and an increase in the maximum aperture of 10 mm, in addition to normalization of EMG signals. We conclude that, after application of the treatment protocol, there was a decrease in painful sites, gain in amplitude of mandibular movements, and normalization of EMG activity.

Initial treatment for patients with temporomandibular disorders: pain relief and muscle tone relief by photobiomodulation therapy using carbon dioxide laser

“…Multiple clinical studies have investigated the use of tissuepenetrating semiconductor lasers [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], and they have also been the subject of basic research reports [18]. Clinical studies using semiconductor lasers in patients with TMD have reportedly yielded pain-relieving effects [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], increased maximum mouth opening [10,[14][15][16][17], anatomical changes including altered facial heights [15], and increased range of motion in left and right temporomandibular joints [16].…”

“…Muscle massage therapy is reported to improve blood flow and lymphatic flow, and muscle stretch therapy is reported to be effective in increasing the range of motion of the jaw [8,9]. Mouth opening training, such as muscle massage therapy and muscle-stretching therapy, are sometimes performed alone [8,9] or are often used in combination with other treatments such as dry needling [8][9][10] or laser therapy [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

“…Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) is a conservative type of therapy, and the irradiation delivered via PBMT is believed to have photobiomodulatory effects [3,6,10,12,19]. It reportedly has pain-relieving effects on conditions that involve chronic pain such as TMD and dentin hypersensitivity [1][2][3][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…It reportedly has pain-relieving effects on conditions that involve chronic pain such as TMD and dentin hypersensitivity [1][2][3][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Semiconductor lasers [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) lasers [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] have both been used to elicit such effects. Among them, the CO 2 laser is used not only for surgical procedures [23][24][25], such as incision and transpiration of tissue, but also as necessary application for tooth-extraction wounds [26,27] and promotion of healing of aphthous stomatitis treatment [28][29][30]…”

“…Therefore, after CO 2 laser irradiation, additional muscle massage or musclestretching therapy may be performed [8,9], and the temporomandibular joint symptoms may be effectively eliminated [3]. In addition, a method involving irradiating a laser to a trigger point has also been often used, which has been reported to have a therapeutic effect [3,6,10,11,17].…”