Comparison of acupuncture on specific and non‐specific points for the treatment of painful temporomandibular disorders: A randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Background and Objective The aim of this single‐centre, two‐arm, parallel‐group, double‐blinded, randomised controlled trial was to investigate the disputed specific effectiveness of acupuncture by comparing acupuncture on specific and non‐specific points among patients with non‐chronic, painful TMDs. Methods Following predefined eligibility criteria, 49 consecutive patients of both sexes were recruited to the study. All subjects were diagnosed with a non‐chronic (Graded Chronic Pain Scale grade <3) painful TMD, as assessed using the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD). Patients were randomly assigned to group A (acupuncture on specific points) or group B (acupuncture on non‐specific points) after the initial examination (T0). Both acupuncture treatment sessions were conducted by a trained dentist once a week for four weeks. The examination was repeated five weeks (T5) after T0 by one calibrated examiner who was unaware of the study groups. Characteristic pain intensity (CPI) was evaluated as the main outcome criterion and compared between times and treatment groups by means of non‐parametric tests (significance level set at P = .05). Secondary outcomes comprised the maximum corrected active mouth‐opening without pain (MAO); patients’ expectations regarding acupuncture treatment and pain development; depressivity; and oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL). Results A total of 41 patients (38 female) successfully completed the study (mean age: 40.17 ± 16.61). The two groups did not differ significantly at any time in terms of age and CPI. However, CPI was significantly (P < .05) lower at T5 than at T0 for both groups (29.66 and 30.35% lower in group A and group B, respectively). An increase in MAO was observed at T5 for both groups but was significant for group B only (P = .016). All patients had positive expectations of acupuncture therapy, and the two groups did not differ significantly at T5 with regard to the extent to which their expectations had been fulfilled by the treatment (P = .717). Comparison of T0 and T5 showed a statistically significant reduction of depressivity for group A (P = .0205), but no significant change for group B (P = .329). At T5, OHRQoL had improved significantly for both groups (group A, P = .018; group B, P < .001) compared with at T0. Conclusions Acupuncture on both specific and non‐specific points reduces the non‐dysfunctional pain of TMD patients. The effect of acupuncture on painful TMD cannot be attributed to the specific point selection.

Electroacupuncture versus sham electroacupuncture in the treatment of postoperative ileus after laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer: study protocol for a multicentre, randomised, sham-controlled trial

“…According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the special acupoint combination can greatly enhance the effect of acupuncture on the gastrointestinal tract. Acupuncture at the acupoints on the disease-affected meridian has been demonstrated to provide superior benefits to patients with temporomandibular disorders, chronic stable angina, functional dyspepsia and migraine 43–46. Therefore, this trial is likely to yield greater benefits than previous similar trials.…”

“…Acupuncture at the acupoints on the disease-affected meridian has been demonstrated to provide superior benefits to patients with temporomandibular disorders, chronic stable angina, functional dyspepsia and migraine. 43–46 Therefore, this trial is likely to yield greater benefits than previous similar trials.…”

Synthesis of temporomandibular disorders management intervention outcomes for development of core outcome sets: A systematic review

“…Maximum unassisted mouth opening with pain 99,105,111,[113][114][115]120,121,128,130 Muscles pressure pain threshold [101][102][103]115,121,122 Maximum unassisted mouth opening without pai n 97,99,101,103,107,115,116,118,120,121,124,128,130 TMJ pressure pain threshold 102,103,115 Maximum assisted mouth opening 99,115,120,129 TMJ sounds 109,123 Lateral movement The Symptoms and Adverse Events domain was the least evaluated in the studies included in this review, accounting for only 12.3% of the articles. It should be noted that an outcome within this domain was only considered when the authors reported the use of adverse events as an outcome in their study and when appropriate statistical analyses were conducted.…”

Acupuncture Points in Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Medical Treatment Accessing to Particularly Good Pressing Effect Using ChatGPT

“…There were not a few examples of eliminating slight discomfort or minor ailments felt in daily life by pressing acupuncture points [2]. In this study, pressing four acupuncture points selected by the Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT) (an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI Inc.) by giving the efficacy of all acupuncture points in Fig.…”

“…Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been an alternative traditional medicine in China [1], [2]. It has been described as pseudoscience with the majority of its treatments appearing to have no logical mechanism of action.…”