Results of the osteopathic treatment of the temporomandibular joint dysfunction (meta-analysis)

Introduction. Dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), and especially such a symptom as facial pain, is one of the most common diseases in the modern world. Among the publications devoted to this problem, works about osteopathy as a method of TMJ treating have become increasingly common, and it allows us to summarize these works within the framework of a systematic review with using a meta-analysis.Aim: to study according to the literature the results of the osteopathic correction using for patients with TMJ dysfunctions, and to conduct a meta-analysis.Materials and methods. The selection of scientific papers from the available databases was carried out according to the following criteria. Inclusion criteria: availability of the article full text in Russian or English; patients aged from 18 to 65 years examined by a dentist and diagnosed with TMJ dysfunction; division of patients into 2 groups: receiving standard treatment in one group, and osteopathic and standard treatment in another group; the results of dental examination are described; the duration of observations from 3 to 6 months. Non-inclusion criteria: description of a single clinical case; the sample under study was less than 20 patients; studies on healthy volunteers; the presence of surgical and traumatological pathology in patients (the consequences of improperly fused fractures, orthognathic surgery, resorption of the condyles of the mandible). There was used R-studio program, including meta package, to perform meta-analysis. There was also used the Newcastle–Ottawa scale to assess the risk of systematic errors in the cohort studies.Results. The final analysis by the indicator of pain reduction in the head area according to the 10-point visualanalog scale (VAS) included 3 articles. The Newcastle scale′s results showed a low risk of systematic errors. The performed calculations support generally the assumption of the advantage of osteopathic correction inclusion in the therapy in terms of reducing the severity of pain syndrome, estimated in points according to VAS. When assessing the osteopathic status in all studies, the somatic dysfunctions of the head, neck region and local somatic TMJ dysfunctions were mainly detected in patients with TMJ dysfunctions.Conclusion. Based on the studied literature and the results of this meta-analysis, it can be concluded the advantage of osteopathic correction inclusion in the treatment of TMJ dysfunctions.