Xiaotong Wei,1 Jing Gao,2 Zhizhengrong Tian,3 Fengyun Zhao,4 Hao Wang,1 Wei Yan1 

1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Physical Examination Center, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Ultrasound, Brain Hospital, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Ultrasound Department, Cangzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Xiaotong Wei, Email weixiaotong0820@163.com

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of intra-articular injection and photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).
Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 91 TMD patients admitted to our hospital from August 2022 to February 2024. Patients were divided into the control group (n=45, treated with intra-articular injection) and the observation group (n=46, treated with PDT). Clinical outcomes, pain levels [Visual Analog Scale (VAS)], maximum mouth opening, masseter muscle pain threshold, Fricton Temporomandibular Joint Index (including Joints Number (JN), Joint Pain (JP), Muscle Masseter (MM), Disc Displacement Index (DI), Mandibular Position (MP), Pain Index (PI), and Clinical Measurement Index (CMI)], oral health [Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14)], and quality of life [Short Form-36 (SF-36)] were compared between the two groups.
Results: The total effective rate in the observation group (91.30%) was significantly higher than the control group (75.56%) (p< 0.05). VAS scores showed significant group (F=5.487), time (F=8.356), and interaction effects (F=6.931) (p< 0.05). Within-group comparisons showed a significant decrease in VAS scores 1 and 4 weeks after treatment (p< 0.05), with the observation group showing lower VAS scores than the control group (p< 0.05). After treatment, maximum mouth opening and masseter muscle pain threshold increased in both groups, with the observation group showing greater improvement (p< 0.05). Fricton Temporomandibular Joint Index scores decreased significantly in both groups, with the observation group showing a more significant reduction (p< 0.05). OHIP-14 scores decreased, and SF-36 scores increased in both groups, with the observation group showing greater improvement (p< 0.05).
Conclusion: PDT is more effective than intra-articular injection in treating TMD. PDT further relieves pain, increases maximum mouth opening and masseter muscle pain threshold, reduces the Fricton index, and improves oral health and quality of life.

Keywords: intra-articular injection, photodynamic therapy, temporomandibular joint disorder, effectiveness, comparative study