A review of conservative non-pharmacological methods in the treatment of temporomandibular joint dysfunction

Multidisciplinary treatment [25,28] with careful consideration of conservative treatment methods [21,22,37] is recommended for patients with temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Treatment of this dysfunction requires combined skills of physiotherapists and dentists, as well as sometimes psychologists and other medical specialists [6,21,24,35]. The combination of treatment methods often produces better results. For example, superficial electromyography in combination with physiotherapy or a combination of manual therapy with an occlusal splint and counseling in the treatment of temporomandibular joint dysfunction result in an improvement of more than 90% [33]. Although all these therapeutic approaches have been shown to positively influence central sensitization of temporomandibular joint pain, there is still no consensus in the scientific literature on this issue, and randomized comparative clinical trials are required [18].