Acupuncture for Treating Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized, Sham-controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article was to assess the clinical evidence for or against acupuncture and acupuncture-like therapies as treatments for temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).

DATA: This systematic review includes randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of acupuncture as a treatment for TMD compared to sham acupuncture. The search terms were selected according to medical subject heading (MeSH).

SOURCES: Systematic searches were conducted in 13 electronic databases up to July 2010; Medline, PubMed, The Cochrane Library 2010 (Issue 7), CINAHL, EMBASE, seven Korean Medical Databases and a Chinese Medical Database.

STUDY SELECTION: All parallel and cross-over RCTs of acupuncture for TMD were searched without language restrictions. Studies in which no clinical data and complex interventions were excluded. Finally, total of 7 RCTs met our inclusion criteria.

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that the evidence for acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment of TMD is limited. Further rigorous studies are, however, required to establish beyond doubt whether acupuncture has therapeutic value for this indication.

Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
PMID: 21354460