Great news for people that have Temporomandibular Disorders! This study investigated the effectiveness of red LED light and low-level LASER therapy in treating patients with Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD), specifically focusing on myofascial pain. It was a double-blind randomized clinical trial involving 60 patients divided into three groups of 20 each. Group A served as the control with no active treatment, Group B received red LED light therapy, and Group C was treated with low-level LASER therapy. The treatments aimed to assess improvements in pain scores, the presence of trigger points, and trismus across four visits with one-week intervals.
The findings revealed that both Group B (LED light therapy) and Group C (LASER therapy) experienced significant improvements in pain by the third and fourth visits compared to Group A (control). There was also a noted reduction in the number of trigger points in both treatment groups, although this reduction was not statistically significant in Group B. No significant differences were observed between the LED and LASER therapy groups in terms of pain reduction and the number of trigger points, indicating that both treatments were similarly effective.
The study concluded that both LED light and LASER therapies are effective in relieving pain associated with myogenic TMD. However, it highlighted the advantages of LED light therapy in terms of biosafety and cost-effectiveness compared to LASER therapy. The clinical trial was registered with the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR ID: TCTR20190507002).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36782179/