A Pilot Whole Systems Clinical Trial of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Naturopathic Medicine for the Treatment of Temporomandibular Disorders

Abstract

These alternative medicine approaches each resulted in significantly greater reduction of pain and psychosocial interference than SC. Further research on the potential benefits of traditional whole systems of medicine for TMD appears warranted.

Estimated Effects of Whole-system Naturopathic Medicine in Select Chronic Disease Conditions: A Systematic Review

“…Results from hand searching added two additional studies: a more recently published randomized controlled trial (RCT) & companion cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). In total, 15 studies of whole practice naturopathic medicine were included [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Figure 1 shows the literature flowchart.…”

“…Two studies were prospective observational cohort studies, of which one was comparative to an electronically created usual care control group [24], and one made comparisons to other forms of CAM [34]. Six of the studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with usual care comparators [23,[27][28][29][30]32], although one made comparisons to other forms of CAM as well [30].…”

“…All studies were in chronic disease conditions; six evaluated outcomes in diabetes or cardiovascular disease [23][24][25]28,33,37], five in musculoskeletal or pain conditions [26,[30][31][32]34], and four studies were in other conditions [27,29,35,36]. Summaries of the included studies are in …”

“…A three-armed randomized controlled trial of naturopathy (NM), traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), or standard care (SC) for temporal mandibular jaw pain was undertaken in a large health maintenance organization in Portland [30]. TCM and NM both demonstrated significantly greater in-treatment reductions for worst facial pain compared to SC; reductions for NM versus SC were greatest (p=0.019).…”

“…The outlier did assess the impact of the disease state (TMJ) on social function and activities of daily living [30]. Effect size estimates for quality life outcomes are summarized in Figure 5.…”