Ultrasound Guided Dextrose Prolotherapy: A Promising Hope for Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction

Title of Topic: “Ultrasound guided dextrose prolotherapy: a promising hope for temporomandibular joint dysfunction”.

Background & Objectives: Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) is a term used to describe a group of medical disorders causing temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain and dysfunction. Prolotherapy also known as regenerative injection therapy is effective in stabilizing injured TMJ and relieving joint pain by injecting a non-pharmacological irritant solution into the region of the tendons or ligaments. Traditionally prolotherapy will do blindly. Image guided prolotherapy improves the accuracy of injections through direct visualisation of the needle into the target. Thus the present study aimed to evaluate the advantages of ultrasound guided prolotherapy with 25% dextrose for the cases with TMDS.

Methods: The present study included 15 patients with temporomandibular joint dysfunction reported to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery. All patients were treated with two sessions of injections with 3 ml of proliferant solution (2 ml of 25% dextrose and 2% lignocaine with 1:2,00,000 adrenaline) one month apart. Follow up was done for 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. The patients were evaluated for pain, frequency of dislocation or subluxation, clicking sound, deviation of mouth and for maximum mouth opening both pre and post-operatively and scores were recorded and analysed with wilcoxon matched pairs test and dependent t test.

Results: Our study showed significant improvement in TMJ pain, clicking sound, deviation of mouth, number of locking episodes and mouth opening after the two sessions of injections.

Interpretation and Conclusion: Ultrasound guided prolotherapy with 25% dextrose appears promising for the treatment of symptomatic TMJ dysfunction, as evidenced by therapeutic benefits, simplicity, safety, patients; acceptance of the injection technique and lack of significant side effects.