The effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound in patients with oral submucosal fibrosis

CONTEXT: Oral submucosal fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic disease occurring due to a reduction in fibroelasticity of the oral mucosa leading to trismus and inability to open the mouth that mostly affects habitual betel quid chewers. AIMS: The present study aims to find the effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound (US) in addition to conventional exercises in patients with OSMF. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: It was a randomized controlled trial, carried out at KM Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Shree Krishna Hospital, Karamsad, Anand, India. Both males and females with the confirmed diagnosis of OSMF and who were referred for physiotherapy treatment were included. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 20 patients were randomized by using shuffling cards into two groups (10 in each): experimental (ultrasound and jaw opening exercises) and control (jaw opening exercises). The maximal mouth opening was measured before and after intervention in both the groups. STATISTICS: The maximal mouth opening was compared within the group before and after the treatment using paired t-test and the improvement in mouth opening between the groups was measured using unpaired t-test (P < 0.05). RESULTS: The results showed significant improvement in mouth opening in both groups that is increased mouth opening by 0.47 ± 0.09 cm (P = 0.002)* in the experimental group and 0.25 ± 0.05 cm (P = 0.003)* in the control group. However, patients in the experimental group had more improvement by about 0.22 cm (P = 0.006)* compared to the control group (*P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Therapeutic US and conventional jaw opening exercises prove more beneficial compared to only jaw opening exercises in OSMF.