Splint therapy is widely used in the treatment of myofascial pain, but valid studies on the efficacy of this therapy are rare. The purpose of the present study was to investigate which qualifiable and quantifiable effects of splint therapy are detectable. For this purpose, 29 patients (21 women, mean age 44.6 ± 16 years) diagnosed with myofascial pain (RDC/TMD) were investigated in this prospective clinical trial (10/6/14An). Patients were treated with Michigan splints applied overnight for three months. Before (T1) and after three months of treatment (T2), patients were registered with an electronic ultrasound device with qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the registrations and a qualitative assessment of pain symptoms using a verbal analog scale. Significant differences were found between maximum mouth opening (MMP) (p < 0.001) and right condylar movement (CM) at MMP (p = 0.045). Qualitative assessment revealed that 24 of 29 patients experienced an improvement in pain symptoms, 17 of whom experienced complete remission. The results of the qualitative and quantitative analysis provide indications of the effectiveness of the splint therapy. In addition to quantitative measurements, the ultrasound facebow technique was also able to provide qualitative information.
Keywords: TMD; electronic ultrasound device; myofascial pain; splint treatment.