Additional splint therapy has no superiority in myogenic temporomandibular disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Purpose: Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are frequent stomatological disorders. However, their treatment is controversial. Therefore, we compared the efficacy of combination therapy (splint therapy along with physiotherapy, manual therapy, and counseling) with physiotherapy, manual therapy, and counseling alone. The extent of mouth opening and pain perception were the outcomes.Study selection: Systematic searches for English publications were performed using four major literature databases (Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science). We included randomized controlled trials. We calculated mean differences with 95% confidence interval (CI) for pain perception and maximum mouth opening (MMO) for the two groups. The Hartung-Knapp adjustment was used for cases comprising at least five studies.Results: Six articles were included in the pain perception category, and four were reviewed for MMO at baseline. Four articles assessed pain perception, and two assessed MMO at 1 month. Five articles were analyzed upon comparing pain perception at baseline and 1-month follow-up. The mean difference was-2.54 [95% CI:-3.38; to-1.70] in the intervention group and-2.33 [95% CI:-4.06; to-0.61] in the control group. Two articles were analyzed upon comparing MMO at baseline and 1-month follow-up. The mean difference in the intervention group was 3.69 [95% CI:-0.34; 7.72], whereas that in the control group was 3.62 [95% CI:-3.43; 10.67].Conclusions: Both therapies can be used in the management of myogenic TMD. Due to the marginal differences between the baseline and 1-month values, our results could not confirm the efficacy of combination therapy.