Acupuncture in the Management of Acute Dental Pain

Abstract

Acute dental pain is the main reason for seeking dental services to provide urgent dental care; there is consensus about the use of alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, to control dental pain in pre-dental care. This study aimed to evaluate the use of acupuncture in reducing the intensity of acute dental pain in pre-dental care in patients waiting for emergency dental care, and was conducted at the After-Hours Emergency Dental Clinic of Piracicaba Dental School, and at the Emergency Center Dental Specialties I in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The sample consisted of 120 patients. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to measure pain intensity. All patients underwent one session of acupuncture; the points LI4, ST44 and CV23 were selected and were used alone or in combinations. Reduction in pain was observed in 120 patients (mean initial VAS=6.558±1.886, p<0; mean final VAS=0.962±2.163, p<0.00001). The results of this study indicate that acupuncture analgesia could be a technical adjunct to pain control in patients with acute dental pain, contributing to the restoration of health with social benefit.

Survey of Dental Students’ Attitude Regarding Oriental Medicine/Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Comparison Between Two Japanese Dental Schools

“…In Japan, more than 130 types of insurance-covered ethical Kampo extract preparations are widely used to alleviate the symptoms of colds and other internal diseases, and evidence to support their effects is ongoing (Terasawa, 2001). In dental clinical settings, acupuncture is implemented to control or alleviate pain associated with caries (Grillo, et al, 2014) (Wang et al, 2015). In addition to teaching students the philosophy of oriental medicine and specific treatment methods, it is also necessary to actively promote its clinical research, so that students can learn the mechanism of treatment, its effects, and the results of clinical research.…”

Effects of single acupuncture point stimulation on mechanical experimental pain

“…As most of the studies focusing on involvement of endogenous opioids have taken measurements shortly after appli cation of acupuncture it is safe to assume that endoge nous opioids could be one of main factors responsible for pain tolerance increase [5,18,19,28,29].…”

Temporomandibular disorder pain improvement with acupuncture: preliminary longitudinal descriptive study

“…Among points, the IG4 point (Figure 2) is to be highlighted for having strong analgesic action 19 and being widely used in dentistry (although being located in the hand), which presents very favorable results to manage orofacial pain. An explanation for such is its internal pathway closely related to the oral cavity 9 . A study 20 has compared acupuncture to occlusal splint in females with TMD, where the acupuncture group had better results in increasing mouth opening, since acupuncture is able to relax masticatory muscles and one of its advantages is the possibility of being associated to conventional therapies.…”

“…Needles were manually inserted and rotated clockwise and counterclockwise until patients reported deqi sensation 8 . Insertion was unilateral (Figure 1), at the side of the most severe pain and after obtaining deqi the needles were no longer manipulated (sedation or tonification) 9 . Patients' report about deqi was observed at each insertion, which is a specific sensation felt when a needle is inserted in the acupuncture point and may present as pain, numbness, heat, weight or distension around the area where the needle was inserted.…”