Jaw Exercise Therapy and Psychoeducation to Reduce Oral Parafunctional Activities for the Management of Persistent Dentoalveolar Pain

• Published in: Pain research & management 2018-01, Vol.2018 (2018), p.1-7
• Main Authors: Hatakeyama, Noboru, Matsubara, Takako, Ikemoto, Tatsunori, Ushida, Takahiro, Nishihara, Makoto, Shimo, Kazuhiro, Ohmichi, Yusuke, Sakurai, Hiroki, Inoue, Masayuki, Aono, Shuichi, Arai, Young-Chang P., Makino, Izumi, Sato, Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Care and treatment; Clinical Study; Clinical trials; Dentists; Exercise; Exercise therapy; Family medical history; Medical diagnosis; Pain; Pathology; Patients; Quality of life; Statistical analysis; Teeth
• ISSN: 1203-6765; 1918-1523
• DOI: 10.1155/2018/5042067

Objective. To retrospectively analyze the effects of our original combination therapy treatment on patients with nonodontogenic persistent dentoalveolar pain. Methods. Twenty-one patients suffering from persistent dentoalveolar pain (nineteen females and two males; mean age ± standard deviation: 55.7 ± 19.6 years) participated in this study. They were treated with a therapy combination of jaw exercise and psychoeducation to reduce oral parafunctional activities every month. The intensity of pain in these subjects was evaluated using a numerical rating scale (NRS) before and after treatment. Results. The NRSs at the baseline ranged from 5 to 10 (median, 8), from 0 to 10 (median, 2) at one month after treatment, from 0 to 10 (median, 1) at three months after treatment, and from 0 to 10 (median, 0) at the end of treatment. Pain intensity after treatment improved significantly. Conclusion. There was a significant reduction in pain after our combination of therapies as nonpharmacological treatments, and therefore this treatment could be useful in the management of NPDP patients.