VARIATION OF SKIN SURFACE-TEMPERATURE OVER THE MASSETER MUSCLES IN PATIENTS WITH MYOFASCIAL PAIN FOLLOWING OCCLUSAL SPLINT TREATMENT

The skin surface temperature (SST) over the masseter muscles was measu red in 19 patients suffering from myofascial pain (MP) and 20 controls who had no history of any craniomandibular disorder. Seven measuremen ts with intervals of 2 weeks were carried out. MP patients received an occlusal stabilization appliance during their second visit as their o nly treatment. Clinical symptoms, including muscle sensitivity to palp ation, jaw movement and general feeling were evaluated at each visit a nd compared to baseline. The results indicated that SST in the control group remained almost unchanged throughout the study. In the MP group , the mean temperature decreased during the study after initial treatm ent. Accordingly, there was a probability of 88.5% that the occlusal a ppliance treatment in the MP group would cause a decrease of SST over the masseter muscle. A significant relationship between clinical impro vement and a decrease of SST was found in the MP group. Temperature re cordings with certain limitations could be an objective assessory tool in diagnosis and followup of patients with myofascial pain.