Evaluation of the participation of hyaluronic acid with platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of temporomandibular joint disorders.

Background: Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs) are widely researched diseases in medical literature. They are associated with many symptoms, such as pain, limited mouth opening and joint sounds, resulting in decreased quality of life for the patient. Both the hyaluronic acid (HA) injection and the plateletrich plasma (PRP) injection have a remarkable efficacy in the treatment of TMDs.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the participation of HA with PRP in the treatment of TMDs.

Material And Methods: The sample consisted of 24 patients with unilateral or bilateral TMDs. They were divided into 2 groups: HA+PRP was used in the test group (12 patients); and HA alone was used in the reference group (12 patients). The injection protocol for both groups was 4 times at 2-week intervals. Pain at mastication, masticatory efficiency, joint sounds, maximum mouth opening (MMO), and functional limitation in the mandibular movement were evaluated at 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after the last injection. The outcome variables were the visual analog scale (VAS) evaluations. The Likert-type scale was used to evaluate the functional limitation in the mandibular movement.

Results: The mean age was 30.58 years in the reference group, and 23.92 years in the test group. There was alleviation of symptoms in both groups through the follow-up periods. There were significant differences between the groups regarding pain at mastication, masticatory efficiency, MMO, and functional limitation at the end of the follow-up period (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The study results suggest that the HA and PRP injection provides greater improvement in patients with TMDs as compared to the HA injection alone; this may be due to taking advantage of the properties of both HA and PRP.