Pilot trial of a mouthpiece as treatment for signs and symptoms of Parkinson disease.

Purpose: Several case studies and anecdotal reports have shown assorted motor and quality of life benefits from use of a dental mouthpiece among people with Parkinson disease (PD). A larger exploratory study is necessary to assess potential efficacy and feasibility of this treatment strategy. If shown to be effective and feasible in a larger sample of people with PD, mechanistic studies may be warranted to examine a potential relationship between orofacial sensory input and motor function in people with PD.

Materials and methods: This study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT: 04082663). Twenty people with PD, Hoehn and Yahr stages I-III, participated in this study. Each participant completed various baseline motor and quality of life assessments before being fitted with a custom mouthpiece. Motor assessments were completed a second time after 25 min of mouthpiece wear. Participants were asked to wear the mouthpiece for 1 month before completing follow-up quality of life assessments and providing feedback about the mouthpiece. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare results across conditions.

Results: Gait velocity and cadence showed significant (p < .05) improvement while wearing the mouthpiece. However, these changes were not significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Thirteen participants indicated they would be unlikely to continue wearing the mouthpiece.

Conclusions: These results do not provide adequate evidence to pursue further this type of mouthpiece as a treatment strategy for motor signs and symptoms or quality of life in people with PD.