Evaluation of secondary treatments in patients with temporomandibular disorders treated by multi-modal rehabilitation therapy

Abstract

A randomized control trial (RCT) conducted by our team showed that multimodal therapy (MMT) combined with exercise therapy and habit control is as effective or might even be better than stabilization splint therapy [8,9]. In accordance with these results, we utilized MMT as the primary treatment modality in patients with TMD because of its safety and low cost. However, all RCTs, including our study, have compared two or more treatment groups, and hence, the conclusions obtained from these studies might not be true for individual patients. Some patients might actually require additional modalities of treatments after completion of MMT because of the lack of sufficient therapeutic result. Therefore, the necessity and methods of secondary treatment modalities should be considered, if MMT does not yield adequate treatment results.