Quality of life of patients with osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint as a criterion for the effectiveness of rehabilitation intervention

Abstract

Introduction. The widespread prevalence of osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint and the need for a multidisciplinary approach to correcting its symptoms make it necessary to create rehabilitation programs using modern means of physical therapy from the standpoint of a functional approach. Рurpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of physical therapy in patients with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis based on the dynamics of quality of life indicators. Materials and methods: 48 people with diagnosed osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint were examined. In people of group 1 (23 people), it was corrected by wearing individual relieving splints. Individuals of group 2 (25 people), in addition, received a course of physical therapy – therapeutic exercises for masticatory muscles, facial muscles, tongue, front surface of the neck and a course of Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation using the unipolar technique for masticatory and temporal muscles. The duration of correction in both groups was 1 month. Quality of life was assessed using the OHIP-14, SF-36 questionnaires. Research results. In patients with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis, deterioration of the quality of life was determined both in terms of dental dysfunction (according to the OHIP-14) and non-specific health-related quality of life (according to the SF-36). According to the results of the corrective intervention, the overall positive dynamics of the OHIP-14 scale in group 1 was 45.2% (from 44.94±1.19 points to 24.62±1.03 points), in group 2 - by 71.1% (from 45.18±1.13 points to 13.04±0.49 points) (p<0.05). The result of the application of restorative intervention in both groups was a statistically significant improvement of the studied indicators of the SF-36 subscales relative to the initial parameters (p<0.05) (except for the “Social” Function subscale of the SF-36 questionnaire), but with a statistically significant advantage of the indicators of group 2 compared to the group 1 (p<0.05). This can be justified by the active functional influence on the musculo-articular components of the dysfunction, and not only by the passive relief provided by the splint. Conclusions. The means of physical therapy should be used to improve the quality of life of patients with osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint and increase the effectiveness of dental orthopedic correction.