Efeitos da placa e aconselhamento sobre a dor, aspectos psicossociais e relacionados ao sono em pacientes com disfunção temporomandibular: ensaio clínico randomizado

Abstract

Introduction: As temporomandibular disfunction (TMD) have a multifactorial etiology and encompass muscular and articular problems of the stomatognathic system. The literature reports that in addition to pain, possible psychosocial impacts can be found, among them, the presence of sleep disturbances, negative influence on quality of life, and still in general and oral health. Objective: To evaluate the effects of occlusal plaque therapy and counseling, alone or in combination, on pain, sleep and quality of life in patients diagnosed with TMD. Methods: A randomized blinded clinical trial with 55 patients was performed, applying three therapies: occlusal plaque (n=23); counseling (n=13); occlusal plaque associated with counseling (n=19). Checks was perfomed in baseline, one month and three months after the treatments to assess the pain with the Visual Analogue Pain Scale (VAS), sleep quality through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) , the life quality by World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF), and the impact of oral health in life quality throught the Oral Health Organization 14 (OHIP-14). The diagnosis of TMD was performed through the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD). The Split Plot ANOVA test was used to observe the difference between the groups over time and within the group, with a confidence level of 95%. Results: It was observed that the three applied therapies showed significant improvement in one month and three months in pain (p < 0.001), sleep quality (p = 0.008) and the impact of oral health on quality of life ( p < 0.001) and did not show a significant difference in the general quality of life (p=0.118), however, the levels found did not show differences among different therapies (p>0.05) for all indices evaluated. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the study, it can be concluded that treatments wiith occlusal plaque and counseling, individually or in combination, are effective in reducing pain, improving sleep and the impact of oral health on quality of life, however, it did not demonstrate significant improvement in general quality of life. As well, no therapeutic group was superior to the other in reducing the observed parameters.