Comparative evaluation of clinical performance of different kind of occlusal splint in management of myofascial pain

• Main Authors: Anish Amin, Roseline Meshramkar, K Lekha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2016-01-01
• Series: The Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society
• Subjects: Myofascial pain; occlusal splints; temporomandibular disorders
• Online Access: http://www.j-ips.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4052;year=2016;volume=16;issue=2;spage=176;epage=181;aulast=Amin

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of hard, liquid, and soft splints in the management of myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome. Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 45 patients with myofascial pain were diagnosed and were randomly assigned into three groups of 15 patients each. Group 1 - subjects were given hard splint, Group 2 - soft splint, and Group 3 - liquid oral splint for 3 months. Subjective pain analysis using Modified Symptom Severity Index (Mod-SSI) and objective pain analysis muscle palpation was performed at 7 days, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months after splint insertion. The changes in mean pain value by both methods, in all three groups, were analyzed with Tukey test and Kruskal-Wallis H-test, respectively (P < 0.05). Results: Both Mod-SSI and palpation scores showed statistically significant reduction in pain for all three groups at the end of 3 months. However, the hard splints proved to be very effective in a shorter period of time, followed by liquid splints and finally soft splints. Conclusion: The result of this study advocates the use of any one of the three types of the occlusal splints in the therapeutic management of myofascial pain due to temporomandibular disorders.