Comparative evaluation of clinical performance of different kind of occlusal splint in management of myofascial pain

PURPOSE To determine the efficacy of hard, liquid, and soft splints in the management of myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this randomized clinical trial, 45 patients with myofascial pain were diagnosed and were randomly assigned into three groups of 15 patients each. Group 1 - subjects were given hard splint, Group 2 - soft splint, and Group 3 - liquid oral splint for 3 months. Subjective pain analysis using Modified Symptom Severity Index (Mod-SSI) and objective pain analysis muscle palpation was performed at 7 days, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months after splint insertion. The changes in mean pain value by both methods, in all three groups, were analyzed with Tukey test and Kruskal-Wallis H-test, respectively (P < 0.05). RESULTS Both Mod-SSI and palpation scores showed statistically significant reduction in pain for all three groups at the end of 3 months. However, the hard splints proved to be very effective in a shorter period of time, followed by liquid splints and finally soft splints. CONCLUSION The result of this study advocates the use of any one of the three types of the occlusal splints in the therapeutic management of myofascial pain due to temporomandibular disorders.