Acupuntura no manuseio da dor orofacial e do tinido: Relato de caso

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Orofacial pain is associated to soft and mineralized oral cavity and facial tissues. In dentistry, it may have or not odontogenic origin. Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is the most common musculoskeletal orofacial pain and presents characteristic symptoms such as masticatory muscles pain, jaw movement limitation, joint noises, earache and tinnitus. Tinnitus is a term describing the perception of sound by human ears in the absence of external sounds and causes discomfort impairing quality of life. It may be a symptom indicating TMD especially when other symptoms are present, such as facial muscles pain. Due to etiologic variability, there are several therapeutic modalities, including acupuncture. This study aimed at reporting a case of a patient with orofacial pain and tinnitus treated with acupuncture and the results after treatment. CASE REPORT: Female patient, 32 years old, came to the Acupuncture Clinic of the School of Dentistry of Piracicaba (FOP/ UNICAMP) complaining of facial muscle pain and pricking at the same side, acute right ear tinnitus, already with diagnosis of left ear hearing loss and with sleep disorders and stress. Patient was treated according to her energetic unbalance with 6 sessions of traditional acupuncture, for one week, lasting 20 minutes. To evaluate orofacial pain and tinnitus intensity, the visual analog scale (VAS) was used and was called initial VAS (pre-treatment) and final VAS (post-treatment). After the second session there has been improvement in orofacial pain and tinnitus symptoms. After the sixth session tinnitus had resolved. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture has induced muscle relaxation with benefits for masticatory and middle ear (tensor tympani) muscles, as well as levator palate muscle decreasing orofacial pain and tinnitus intensity.

Efeito do laser de baixa intensidade no tratamento da disfunção temporomandibular: Relato de caso

“…O zumbido foi investigado por um otorrinolaringologista e foi descartada a possibilidade de que os sintomas seriam provenientes de problemas de origem otológica, como otites, tumores ou lesões dos órgãos do ouvido. Segundo, Webster, Ikino, Salles, Lino, Manoel e Filho (2011) e Vera, Grillo, Fortinguerra, Sousa e Berzin (2013) o zumbido e a DTM estão em interrelação, pois em portadores da disfunção a presença do zumbido é observada em mais de 50% dos casos, o que pode ser explicado pela íntima relação anatômica entre o aparelho auditivo e o aparelho estomatognático, dessa forma, o zumbido pode ser um sintoma otológico da DTM (Catão et al, 2012;Vera et al, 2013).…”

“…Semelhantemente ocorreu com a escala visual analógica (EVA), a dor no início do tratamento era de 8 e após o tratamento diminuiu para 1, com uma melhora de 87,5%. A porcentagem obtida foi realizada por meio da diferença da EVA inicial e EVA final, assim como Vera et al (2013) (Gráfico 1).…”

Effectiveness of acupuncture for temporomandibular disorders and associated symptoms

“…Among these techniques, one should stress acupuncture [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Due to its recent use in dentistry, its noninvasive character and effective results, it has been successfully used for this purpose 14,16,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] . Acupuncture is a millenary technique of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which has been justified and structured on philosophical, rather than scientific basis 25 .…”

Conceptions granted by the elderly about orofacial pain

“…Denomina-se dor orofacial qualquer sintoma doloroso relacionado a tecidos moles (músculos, nervos, pele, glândulas, vasos sanguíneos) e mineralizados (ossos e dentes) da cavidade oral e face, compreendendo a região abaixo da linha orbitomeatal, acima do pescoço e anterior às orelhas. 4,5 As principais fontes de dor orofacial são problemas odontogênicos, cefaleias, patologias neurogênicas, dores musculoesqueléticas, dores psicogênicas, câncer, infecções, fenômenos autoimunes e trauma tecidual. 6 Para Kuroiwa et al, 1 a dor orofacial pode alterar a qualidade de vida mais do que outras condições sistêmicas, tais como diabetes mellitus, hipertensão ou úlcera.…”