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

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.