Comparative effectiveness of low level laser therapy and transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation on temporomandibular joint disorders

Introduction: temporomandibular joint disorders (tmds) are the most common source of pain on the face. there are multiple etiologies,and several types of treatment have been reported. the use of non-invasive and reversible therapies in the treatment of such problems is recommended. the present study evaluated the effect of low-level laser (lll) therapy and transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (tens) on tmds. methods: in this single-blind study,40 patients with temporomandibular disorders were randomly divided into four groups: tens (tenstem dental),lll (diode 810 nm cw),sham-tens,and sham-lll. all subjects were examined and data on pain and tenderness in the temporomandibular joint (tmj) and masticatory muscles (using the visual analogue scale) and mouth-opening (distance between incisal edges before feeling pain; mm) were collected before baseline (t1),after each session (t2-t5) and one month after the end of the sessions (t6)),and analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance (anova) and bonferroni statistical tests. a p value < 0.05 was considered significant. results: the decrease in pain (p = 0.000),tenderness (p = 0.000) and increase in mouth-opening ability (p = 0.002) was greater in the tens and lll groups than in the placebo groups. at the one-month follow-up,significant decrease in pain and tenderness was recorded in the tens and lll groups (p = 0.000). there was no significant differences between tens and lll and the placebo groups for maximum mouth-opening at the end of the study (p = 0.692). conclusion: using tens or lll therapy can improve tmd symptoms at least for the short term. although the effects of the placebo played a role in improving symptoms,their effects were less important.