Evaluation of the Effects of Treatments Applied to Patients With Facial Myalgia on Quality of Life and Occlusion Parameters

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is closely related to neuromuscular components. A problem occurring in any of these components or parts of the TMJ interferes with the harmonic functioning of the TMJ and invites temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD).Management of TMD can be conservative or surgical. Physiotherapy, local steam application, external muscle massage, occlusal adjustment, analgesic and physiotherapeutic medication and splint treatments are the most frequently recommended conservative treatments. Today, occlusal adjustments are made with the help of a prosthetic or orthodontic appliance. With these intraorally used occlusal splints, a balanced occlusal contact is achieved without applying any force to the mandible in the resting position. Occlusal splints are available in different designs and different construction materials. The stabilization splint, which is one of the most frequently used occlusal splints, and the modified Hawley splint are appliances produced from hard materials. However, some researchers have commented that soft splints produced from resilient materials may also be useful in the distribution of excessive force formed in parafunctional habits. While there are studies stating that hard splints provide more successful results than soft splints in functional problems of the chewing system, there are also studies reporting that they have similar efficacy on muscle pain after short-term use. However, there are no studies in the literature that compare their efficacy in short-term and long-term myalgia patients and demonstrate their efficacy using an objective test such as digital occlusion analysis. There was no study on the effectiveness of different splints on the patient's quality of life. It would be appropriate to carry out our study to fill this gap in the literature.The main purpose of this study is to digitally examine and compare the effects of three different treatment methods (medical therapy, medical therapy+soft splint, medical therapy +hard splint) applied to patients diagnosed with facial myalgia after temporomandibular joint examination on the existing occlusion changes.