The proposed study will assess the effect of local heat therapy on jaw pain and jaw fatigue secondary to a teeth clenching task in chronic TMD pain cases. Researchers expect that most participants will respond to heat therapy and consequently experience reduced jaw pain and fatigue during teeth clenching. The study will assess the clinical characteristics of those participants who respond and do not respond to local heat therapy, in order to determine the common clinical characteristics for those in each response category.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
10
This will use a simple device provided to participants named "jaw bra", which is a head wrap with straps that goes around the chin and head that holds heated gel packs over the cheeks area
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations
Primary outcome includes the proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations. A bad jaw pain fluctuation is defined as an increase ≥ 20 points from a previous measure. Jaw pain ratings will be collected daily for 8 days. The proportion of pain fluctuations is defined as the number of bad jaw pain fluctuations relative to the total number of jaw pain ratings.
Time frame: 7 days following intervention
Patient change in proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations
Patient change in proportion of bad pain fluctuations will be assessed by comparing the proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations between patients receiving heat therapy and matched patients not receiving heat therapy during the wait period.
Time frame: 7 days following intervention
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