Intervenciones complementarias para el tratamiento de dolor en pacientes con alteraciones temporomandibulares: una revisión sistemática

In treating patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMJ), therapies are required that reduce pain and improve chewing capacity. Various potential complementary therapies have been investigated and, it is the responsibility of dentists to choose the most appropriate treatment based on the existing evidence. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review is to determine the level of evidence about the efficacy of complementary therapies for the control of TMJ pain. For the search, the databases Pubmed, Clinical Trials, and Science Direct were consulted, as well as Scholar Google for grey literature. Publication time restriction was applied, considering articles published from 2010 to 2020. Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) focused on the complementary treatment of pain were included. These studies were centralized either with acupuncture, ozone therapy, platelet-rich plasma, or phonophoresis in patients with temporomandibular disorders unrelated to degenerative joint disorders. The organization, data extraction, assessment of bias, and quality were done according to the PRISMA guidelines (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), the PICO strategy, the ROB2 tool, and the GRADE system (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation), respectively. Due to the wide heterogeneity of the studies, a meta-analysis was not performed. Eight RCTs were included that met the eligibility criteria, which reported positive results in the control of pain for TMJ by using the complementary therapies studied; however, the evidence is insufficient to recommend any of these specific therapies.