temporomandibular joint disorder therapy: a review

Aims: temporomandibular disorders (tmd) are one of the most prevalent disorders in maxillofacial area. due to lack of understanding of the etiology or pathogenesis of tmd and a definitive diagnostic or therapeutic approach, patients have to tolerate symptoms such as pain. this study was aimed to perform a review of non-surgical treatment methods for tmd. materials and methods: in this review, google, google scholar, pubmed, sid, isi web of science, sid and iranmedex databases were searched using key terms: temporomandibular disorders, temporomandibular joint, temporomandibular pain, non-surgical treatment. articles meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited in the study. finally, a total of 63 prospective clinical trials were evaluated from 2015 to 2020. results: from the 61 studies evaluated, 27 studies were on low-level laser therapy (lllt), 13 studies on transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (tens), 5 studies on acupuncture and dry needling, 1 study on laser acupuncture, 9 studies on platelet-rich plasma (prp) and 6 studies on botox injection. conclusion: laser acupuncture had similar treatment effects in reducing pain to tens, low-level laser, acupuncture and dry needling. it seems that the use of laser acupuncture is safer than other methods in decreasing pain of patients with tmd.