Paradigm Shift in the Treatment of Temporomandibular Joint Pain with Injectable Platelet-Rich Fibrin—A Single-Arm Trial

(1) Evaluating the role of growth factors, iPRF in the treatment of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and (2) to compare effectiveness of iPRF in pain reduction with conservative treatments.

In a single-arm trial, 67 patients suffering from TMD were first kept on conservative management, out of those who did not show any relief were then injected with iPRF in the superior joint space, and patients were then followed up for a period of 6 months. The patients were evaluated on the basis of VAS score and pre- and post-MRI.

The significance of change is highly significant by Friedman’s test (P < 0.001). Comparison of the VAS pre-operative scores with the VAS scores after each time interval was highly significant by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (P < 0.001 for each comparison after correction for multiple comparisons). Over 75% (37/47) of the cases showed decrease in the VAS scores to 0 at 6 months, showing an excellent response to therapy. 43/47 (91.5%) cases with complete follow-up upto 6 months showed VAS scores of 2 or less, suggesting excellent response to therapy.

The authors suggest that this treatment modality should be used for TMD as the initial line of treatment instead of injecting corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid (HA). iPRF aids in regeneration of the lost tissue and provides slow and sustained pain relief to the patients.