Efficacy of Oral Habit Amendment in Neck Pain Treatment

Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) can be associated with pain in other areas such as the neck. Multiple causes have been suggested for TMDs; parafunctional habits such as bruxism and clenching are among the most commonly suggested etiologies. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the amendment of oral parafunctional habits in the improvement of TMDs and neck pain. This before-and-after interventional study was conducted on 136 patients with TMDs, parafunctional habits, and neck pain. The patients were instructed on how to quit their parafunctional habits and were followed up for two months. The neck pain disability index (NPDI), anamnestic dysfunction index (Ai), and clinical dysfunction index (Di) of TMD were evaluated before and after the modifica-tion of parafunctional habits. Data were analyzed using paired Student’s t-test, Wilcox-on, Mann-U-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman tests. P<0.05 was considered significant. Most TMD patients were women (74.5%). The patients’ scores significantly de-creased from 4 to 1 in the Ai, from 8 to 1 in the Di, and from 49 to 25 in the NPDI two months after the intervention (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the NPDI, Ai, and Di scores following the amendment of oral parafunctional habits between males and females or among different age ranges. Age did not significantly correlate with the changes in the NPDI, Ai, and Di scores after the improvement of oral parafunctional habits. The NPDI significantly correlated with the Ai score. It seems that parafunctional habit modification improves TMDs and neck pain.