Effectiveness of mouth motion exercise combined with pharmacological therapy for treatment of anterior temporomandibular joint disc displacement without reduction

Abstract

This report describes the effectiveness of mouth motion exercise combined with pharmacological therapy for temporomandibular joint disc displacement without reduction with limited mouth opening (closed lock). A total of 48 patients were included in this retrospective study. All patients received a verbal explanation of their pathological conditions and self-care protocols, and were then instructed to perform a 5-minute-long mouth motion exercise 3 times per day combined with oral administration of NSAID and muscle relaxant for 2 weeks. As a result, 35 cases (72.9%) showed complete or partial response, 4 cases (8.3%) showed no improvement, and 9 cases (18.8%) dropped out of our treatment regimen, regardless of whether or not they had achieved complete or partial response. These results suggest that patients with temporomandibular joint disc displacement without reduction will improve with mouth motion exercise combined with oral administration of NSAID and muscle relaxant.