Efficacy of Arthrocentesis with and Without Sodium Hyaluronate Injection for Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Comparative Study.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of arthrocentesis with and without sodium hyaluronate injection for internal derangement of temporomandibular joint. Materials and Methods: Patients with clinically and radiographically confirmed cases of temporomandibular joint disorders were enrolled for this study. 20 patients were randomly allocated into two groups for arthrocentesis of TMJ with 10 patients in each group. In group 1, patients were treated with TMJ arthrocentesis followed by sodium hyaluronate injection, and in group 2, patients were treated with arthrocentesis alone. All the patients were treated under local anaesthesia. The patients were followed up at 1st week, 2nd week, 4th week and 12th week post operatively for maximum mouth opening, lateral mandibular movements, pain at rest and on mastication and the subjective efficacy of the treatment. Results: By the end of twelfth week follow up, the mean mouth opening showed significant improvement in group 1, the right and left lateral movements showed better results in group 1 than in group 2, pain at rest and pain on mastication were mild in both the groups with subjective efficacy good in group 1 and moderate in group 2. Conclusion: This study suggested that TMJ arthrocentesis with sodium hyaluronate injection had better clinical outcome compared to TMJ arthrocentesis alone for TMJ disorders.