Comparison of Early Effectiveness of Three Different Intervention Methods in Patients with Chronic Orofacial Pain: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: Occlusal appliances are still widely used instruments in the management of orofacial pain in dentistry, yet alone or as a part of multimodal therapy. However, some of those modalities have been lacking thorough randomized assessment, and there is a conflicting evidence available. It is hypothesized that pain symptoms might improve faster and in more tangible way due to combined therapy. Also, to our best knowledge, nimesulide was never examined in this aspect, too. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare early effectiveness of routine intervention methods in patients with myofascial pain (MP) after 3 weeks' notice. Three modalities were evaluated: occlusal appliance (OA) with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy (nimesulide), occlusal appliance with dry needling (DN), and occlusal appliance (OA-control group) therapy. DESIGN: Randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) in which ninety patients with MP, who met the inclusion criteria, were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. Sealed, opaque envelopes were used. METHODS: For evaluation, each patient completed a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Sleep and Pain Activity Questionnaire (SPAQ) twice, first at the beginning of the study and again after 3 weeks (0–3). RESULTS: Posttreatment test comparison between the control group and both treated groups reveal significant differences between the control and the NSAID + occlusal appliance groups. There were also differences reported between the control and the DN + occlusal appliance groups, but these differences were, however, not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Occlusal appliances in conjunction with NSAID showed better orofacial pain relief after 3 weeks of therapy, compared to the use of occlusal appliances alone or in conjunction with dry needling. Additionally, differences between pain perception and quality of life between OA and DN + OA groups were not found to be statistically significant.