Perception of the signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorder in females by using the ProTMDMulti protocol and the visual analog scale before and after acupuncture treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perceptions of patients with TMD in relation to the signs and symptoms before and after acupuncture treatment, according to the ProTMDMulti and the VAS. METHOD: 68 patients were divided into groups: muscle TMD treated with acupuncture at local points (MUS-LP), muscle TMD with acupuncture at distant points (MUS-DP), joint and muscle treated with LP (JOI-LP) and joint and muscle treated with DP (JOI-DP). The evaluations were performed at four times: initial, control, final and follow-up. RESULTS: The best results were seen in the JOI-LP and the MUS-DP groups, in which the perceptions of the signs and symptoms were statistically lower in the final assessment than in the initial (P<0.05). In all groups, the final and the follow-up evaluations were similar. CONCLUSIONS: For TMDs with joint components, the best acupuncture treatment involves local points and for the TMDs with muscle components, points at a distance.

Mechanical and acid root treatment on periodontally affected human teeth: a scanning electronic microscopy

Aim: To evaluate the root topography of human teeth affected by periodontitis, after different root surface treatments. Methods: Forty-two periodontally affected single-rooted human teeth were selected and randomly divided into 7 groups (n=6): Cont- control group, which received no treatment; Sca- root surface scaling and root planning with curettes; ScaPh- Sca followed by 37%phosphoric acid gel etching for 15 s; ScaEdta- Sca followed by 24% EDTA gel pH 7 for 1 min; ScaCi- Sca followed by 30% citric acid pH 1.6 for 5 min; ScaTe- Sca followed by - mixture obtained by 500 mg tetracycline capsule dissolved in saline solution for 3 min; ScaTeg- Sca followed by 0.2 g/mL tetracycline gel pH 1.8 for 1 min. The specimens were analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy to verify the presence of calculus, demineralization level and residues of the product. Results: Calculus deposits were found in all control specimens. ScaEdta, ScaCi and ScaTeg removed completely calculus deposits and resulted in adequate demineralization without smear layer and smear plug on root surface. ScaTe produced great tetracycline residues with several demineralization areas on root dentin surface. Conclusions: ScaEdta, ScaCi and ScaTeg produced clean root surfaces associated with regular dentin demineralization.

Acupuntura como tratamento complementar nas disfunções temporomandibulares; revisão da literatura / Acupuncture as a complementary treatment option to temporomandibular dysfunction: review of the literature

A dor caracteriza-se como um estímulo orgânico de resposta do organismo aalterações que prejudiquem seu pleno funcionamento. Entretanto, dependendo da intensidade e daduração, pode dificultar o estabelecimento de tratamentos que visem eliminar seu fator etiológico.Por isso, seu controle passa a ser encarado como fundamental no plano de tratamento genérico. Asdores crônicas são mais difíceis de serem controladas e freqüentemente são encontradas nas regiõesde cabeça e pescoço. Além dos métodos convencionais de controle da dor, a acupuntura surge naodontologia como método alternativo eficiente e com bons resultados em diversas alterações doaparelho estomatognático, como nas disfunções temporomandibulares. Este artigo tem por objetivorevisar a literatura, avaliando os resultados obtidos nas pesquisas que relacionam a acupuntura como tratamento de dores orofaciais crônicas, especificamente as DTMs, e analisando sua eficiência elimitações em relação às terapias convencionais. A revisão da literatura foi baseada em pesquisana base de dados PubMed, relativa ao período de 1973 a 2004, utilizando as palavras-chaveôacupuncture and temporomandibular dysfunctionõ e selecionando, entre os artigos encontrados,aqueles que correlacionavam a aplicação da acupuntura na Odontologia, especialmente nasdisfunções temporomandibulares. Também foram empregados livros contendo conceitos básicosde dor, fisiologia humana e acupuntura, além de artigos abrangendo princípios de oclusão. Diantedo tema abordado neste artigo é possível concluir que a acupuntura tem se mostrado tão eficienteno controle de dores faciais quanto as terapias convencionais, principalmente em se tratando dedores de origem muscular.

Pain is believed to be an organic stimuli answer from the body to alterations thatmay prejudice its normal function. However, depending on its intensity and period of action, itcan damage the elimination of the etiological factors by the establishment of treatment therapies.On this way, the control of this pain seems to be faced as fundamental on a generic treatmentplan. Chronic pain is the most difficult one to deal with and it is frequently found on head andneck regions. Besides conventional treatment modalities to control pain, acupuncture startedto be used in dentistry as an efficient alternative method with good results when dealing with several types of stomatognathic system alterations, as in temporomandibular dysfunction. Theaim of this study was to review the literature in order to evaluate the results of several researchersthat used acupuncture on the treatment of chronic facial pain, and to compare its efficiency andlimitations with conventional therapies. A PubMed database search was conducted using thekeywords ôacupuncture and temporomandibular dysfunctionõ limited to the period between 1973and 2004. Articles that described the use of acupuncture in dentistry, especially to the treatmentof Temporomandibular Dysfunction, were selected. Textbooks concerning the subjects: pain,human physiology and acupuncture were also included, in addition to articles related to occlusion.According to the principles discussed on this article it is possible to conclude that acupuncture isas efficient as conventional therapies on the control of orofacial pain, principally when the painis of muscle origin.