Fariha Shah, Syeda Nida Hassan, Farrukh Mumtaz Rana.
Awareness of dentists regarding role of physiotherapy in managing temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
J Riphah Coll Rehab Sci Jan ;02(01):35-9.

Background: Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) is a complex disorder usually characterized by pain, crepitus and reduced movement. It may be due to various causes i.e. unbalanced activity, muscular spasm, or overuse of the jaw muscles, Objective: - The aim of our study is to find the awareness level of physiotherapy among dentists regarding its role in TMD. Methodology: A Descriptive case series was conducted in FMH (Dentistry department) and different private dental clinics in Shadman Lahore. A convenient base sample of 100 respondents has been collected in 1 month. Results: In our study 65% dentist did not consider physiotherapy as a treatment option for TMD, while 27% considered that it may be a treatment option and only 8% considered it as a treatment option. Association of dentists’ awareness level of physiotherapy as a treatment for TMD found to be significantly low p=0.0001 in our study. Treatment choice of most dentists was using a combination of medications and precautions (64%) while only 7% of dentist referred patients with TMD for physiotherapy. According to our study, most common complaints of patients to dentists were pain during eating and yawing (52%) followed by Crepitus/Clicking (30.0%) as the second most common complaint. According to our study results, 40% dentists prescribed muscle relaxants and rest as a most effective treatment for TMD. Conclusion: TMD is a problem requiring multiple remedies for symptoms relief. Medications alone are unable to give satisfactory results in relieving all the symptoms of TMJ dysfunction. Physiotherapy is an effective mean of symptoms’ relief yet awareness level is found to be significantly low in dentists regarding its effectiveness

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