ABSTRACT
It was the aim of this study to compare the efficacy of ozone therapy and drug treatment in patients with painful temporomandibular joint [TMJ] disorder [TMD]. A total of 63 patients with TMD were enrolled; 33 were treated with bio-oxidative therapy and 30 with a ketoprofen tablet thiocolchicoside capsule 2 x 1 for 7 days. Maximum voluntary interincisal mouth opening [MMO] was measured in millimeters using a scale and recorded during the pre- and posttreatment periods. The patients evaluated their subjective pain using a visual analogue scale[VAS]. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, the Kol-mogorov-Smirnov test, and the independent t test. The mean MMO of the group that received ozone therapy during the pretreatment period was 46.51 +/- 8.2 mm, and it immediately increased to 48.78 +/- 7.5 mm after 1 week of ozone therapy, which was statistically significant [p = 0.04]. For those who received medication, the mean MMO during the pretreatment period was 46.30 mm, and at the end of 1 week it was 46.9 mm. In the ozone group, 29% of patients showed a gradual decrease in their VAS pain scores compared to pretreatment values [6.3 +/- 2.1 to 3.0 +/- 2.2]. In the medication group, 24% of patients showed a significant decrease in VAS pain scores during the follow-up period [6.9 +/- 1.4 to 5.0 +/- 1.5]. This study showed that bio-oxidative therapy was a more effective treatment than medication therapy for relieving TMJ pain