Low Intensity Laser Application in Temporomandibular Disorders: A Phase I Double-Blind Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low intensity laser therapy (LILT) for the control of pain from temporomandibular disorder (TMD) in a random and double-blind research design. Forty-eight (48) patients presenting temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain were divided into an experimental group (GI) and a placebo group (GII). The sample was submitted to the treatment with infrared laser (780 nm, 70 mW, 10 s, 89.7 J/cm2) applied in continuous mode on the affected temporomandibular region, at one point: inside the external auditive duct toward the retrodiskal region, twice a week, for four weeks. For the control group, two identical probes (one active and one that does not emit radiation) were used unknown by the clinician and the subjects. A tip planned for laser acupuncture was used and connected to the active point of the probe. The parameter evaluated was the intensity of pain after palpation of the condylar lateral pole, pre-auricular region and external auditive duct, according to the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Four evaluations were performed: Ev1 (before laser application), Ev2 (after 4th application), Ev3 (after 8th application) and Ev4 (30 days after the last application). Data were submitted to statistical analysis. The results showed a decrease in the pain level mainly for the active probe. Among the evaluations, the Ev3 exhibited lower sensitivity to palpation. In conclusion, the results show that low intensity laser is an effective therapy for the pain control of subjects with TMD.

Management of Temporomandibular Disorders with Low Level Laser Therapy

“…Some authors reported the efficacy of LLLT to be superior to placebo therapy [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and other physical therapies , while, others found no significant differences between LLLT and placebo for the measures of TMJ pain [24][25][26]. However there is an advantage of using LLLT in the treatment of TMDs as it is non-invasive, cost effective and does not have any known side effects.…”

Development of Scientific Publications on Acupuncture

“…At the end of the 1990s, there was a small but steady increase, a development that has been accentuated in the last 10 years. according to phase I (Singh et al, 2008;Mazetto et al, 2007;Kim et al, 2004;Zeltzer et al, 2002), and another four according to phase II (Beer et al, 2010;Lansdown et al, 2009;Vickers et al, 2004;Wong et al, 2003). A relevant question is if this growth is larger than the general increase of published items on acupuncture?…”

Efeito de exercícios motores orofaciais e laserterapia nos sintomas de desordem temporomandibular e funções orofaciais

“…A boa relação entre profissional e paciente, associados com aparência de alta tecnologia do laser, pode explicar a redução da sintomatologia dolorosa nos grupos que tiveram essa modalidade terapêutica para alívio de dor (Conti, 1997;Mazzetto et al, 2007; de Moraes-Maia et al, 2014).…”

“…A terapia com laser de baixa intensidade (LLLT), assim como a TMO, é um tratamento não invasivo que tem mostrado ser benéfico no tratamento de dor relacionado à DTM sendo, portanto, considerado eficiente como agente terapêutico e coadjuvante no tratamento das DTM (Kulekcioglu et al, 2003;De Medeiros et al, 2005;Çetineret al, 2006;Mcnelly et al, 2006;Medlicott e Harris, 2006;Shinozaki et al, 2006;Fikácková et al, 2007;Mazzetto et al, 2007;Carrasco et al, 2008;Shirani et al, 2009;Marini et al, 2010;Venezian et al, 2010;Mazzetto et al, 2010;Oz et al, 2010;Dostalová et al, 2012;Sattayut et al, 2012;de Moraes Maia et al, 2014;Salmos-Brito et al, 2013;Melchior et al, 2013;Ahrari et al, 2014;Herpich et al, 2015;Rodrigues et al, 2015).…”

“…A terapia com laser de baixa intensidade (LLLT) é um tratamento não invasivo que tem mostrado ser benéfico no tratamento de dor relacionado à DTM sendo, portanto, considerado eficiente como agente terapêutico e coadjuvante no tratamento das DTM (Kulekcioglu et al, 2003;De Medeiros et al, 2005;Çetiner et al, 2006;Mcnelly et al, 2006;Medlicott e Harris, 2006;Shinozaki et al, 2006;Fikácková et al, 2007;Mazzetto et al, 2007;Carrasco et al, 2008;Shirani et al, 2009;Marini et al, 2010;Venezian et al, 2010;Mazzetto et al, 2010;Öz et al, 2010;Dostalová et al, 2012;Sattayut e Bradley et al, 2012;Salmos-Brito et al, 2013;Melchior et al, 2013;de Moares Maia et al, 2014;Ahrari et al, 2014;Herpich et al, 2015;Rodrigues et al, 2015) e no alívio de dor cervical crônica (Chow et al, 2006). Além disso, há relatos de melhora da amplitude dos movimentos mandibulares (Kulekcioglu et al, 2003;Çetiner et al, 2006;Núñez et al, 2006;Mazzetto et al, 2010;Gökçen-Röhlig et al, 2012;Ahrari et al, 2014;Rodrigues et al, 2015), da dificuldade para mastigar (Çetiner et al, 2006) e eficiência mastigatória após a LLLT (de Moraes Maia et al, 2014).…”