Effects of Warm Needle Acupuncture on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Background. Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs) are a common and prevalent disease with main symptoms of pain, joint sounds, and mandibular movement disorders, which seriously affects the mental health and quality of life of the sufferers. In recent years, there have been an increasing number of studies utilizing warm needle acupuncture (WNA) for the treatment of TMD, and the quality of the studies has gradually improved. However, evidence from evidence-based medicine is lacking. This study aims to use a systematic review and meta-analysis method to understand the efficacy of WNA for the treatment of TMD. Methods and Analysis. We searched randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of WNA for the treatment of TMD from 9 electronic databases, including 5 English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and MEDLINE) and 4 Chinese databases (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese VIP Information, Wanfang Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM)) from their inception to May 2021. The included RCTs compared WNA with acupuncture, electroacupuncture, pharmacological therapy, or other therapies. And outcome indicators such as total effective rate and cure rate were assessed. All analyses were conducted using RevMan software V5.3 and Stata16. Measurement count data used the relative risk (RR) as the efficacy statistic, and each effect size was given its point estimate value and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results. The meta-analysis included 10 studies with a total of 670 patients, which included 340 patients in the experimental group and 330 patients in the control group. The data in this review showed that WNA is superior to treatments such as acupuncture alone, acupuncture therapy combined with TDP, drug therapy, and ultrasonic therapy in terms of effective rate (RR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.35; and P = 0.003) and cure rate (RR = 1.82; 95% CI, 1.46 to 2.28; and P < 0.00001) for the treatment of TMD. Conclusions. This systematic review and meta-analysis provides new evidence for the effectiveness of WNA for the treatment of TMD. However, the above conclusions need to be further verified by multicenter prospective studies of larger samples and higher-quality RCTs. Protocol registration number: INPLASY202160030.

Integrative and complementary practices in dentistry: acupuncture in temporomandibular disorders

“…Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners that help conventional a holistic dentists include chiropractors, pharmacist, acupuncturists, acupressurists, therapists and nutritionists (Liu, et al, 2021).…”

“…Acupuncture on temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (Liu, et al, 2021) Use the method of systematic review and meta-analysis to understand the effectiveness of WNA (Warm Needle Acupuncture) for treating TMD.…”

Changes in Maximum Mandibular Mobility Due to Splint Therapy in Patients with Temporomandibular Disorders

“…The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) were established to precisely differentiate the symptoms, which are difficult to quantify, in order to enable uniform diagnosis against a background of high prevalence [ 10 ]. Despite generally valid and uniform diagnostic criteria, the therapeutic strategies published in the literature are diverse and range from analgesic or anti-inflammatory drugs, occlusal splints, physical therapies, trigger point injections, and acupuncture to Botox injections and lasers [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In this regard, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis explicitly reported the efficacy of all therapeutic approaches for TMD with exclusively a muscular origin [ 17 ].…”

Effectiveness and safety of warm needling therapy combined with electroacupuncture for patients with plantar heel pain syndrome

“…Currently, clinicians can use a variety of acupuncture modalities, such as electroacupuncture, warm acupuncture, and hand acupuncture. [4,5] Funded by Hangzhou science and technology bureau project (2021K1662).…”

“…Currently, clinicians can use a variety of acupuncture modalities, such as electroacupuncture, warm acupuncture, and hand acupuncture. [ 4 , 5 ] Stimulation of acupuncture points by acupuncture has been shown to induce analgesia by releasing neuropeptides such as enkephalins, dynorphins, beta-endorphins, and endorphins. [ 6 ] A recent systematic review suggests that acupuncture can reduce PHPS pain in the short term, however, more nuanced issues, such as how practitioners choose different acupuncture in different situations, remain unclear.…”