Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Management of Orofacial Pain and Temporomandibular Disorders: a Narrative Review

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and acupuncture (AT) are widely used for treating acute and chronic pain conditions, including pain related to temporomandibular disorders (TMD). This review highlights the current knowledge about the use of AT and TCM in orofacial pain field, in particular for TMD-related pain management, exploring acupuncture potential benefits, its mechanisms of action on pain and the more suitable clinical application techniques and methods of point stimulation.

The literature reviewed showed growing evidence supporting the use of AT and TCM-related techniques for the management of orofacial pain, especially associated with TMD. AT presents great potential for treating orofacial pain, especially for muscle pain and headache, and when applied on patients with systemic pain conditions. Different AT techniques and methods of point stimulation, including the traditional and the innovative ones, can be safely used as alternative or to support conventional treatments.

The use of AT for the management of pain in oro-craniofacial district may have great potential, especially for chronic condition and for pain of muscular origin. Despite the growing interest for TCM and AT as therapeutic tool in musculoskeletal pain conditions, in orofacial pain field the evidence is still few and fragmentary, and there are no specific protocols or clinical and therapeutic indications.