Study Title:Interventions for the management of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (Review)
Study Type: Systematic Review
Level of Evidence: Level 1
Clinical Summary:Injections of hyaluronic acid or corticosteroids seem to be equally effective for pain at 6 months, VAS SMD: -17.00 (95%CI: -32.6 to -1.4) No measures of jaw movements had significant results in the first study. Night splints appear to be as effective as diclofenac sodium, but pain scores were reported as percentages and could not be extracted. Diclofenac sodium was associated with more severe side effects. Glucosamine Sulfate appeared to be as effective as ibuprofen at improving pain and function over a 90-day period: VAS SMD -6.74 (-14.70, 1.22).
Overall Quality: Moderate- Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate.
Why:The quality of the review is excellent, however the studies themselves lack homogeneity and specifics in some cases, and there were very few that met the inclusion criteria used by the reviewers. For these reasons, the weight of the evidence is relatively minor, and further research is needed in each area.
Apply This:The glucosamine protocol used was as follows: glucosamine sulfate 500 mg PO TID for 90 days.
Study Author(s):de Souza RF, Lovato da Silva CH, Nasser M, Fedorowicz Z, Al-Muharraqi MA
Publication Date:2012
Published in:The Cochrane Library
Evidence-Informed Practitioner 