Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42092880›Full record

Trial reportBMC oral health2026

Efficacy of Kovacs digital splint for treating temporomandibular disorders: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Jiangshan Hua, Jieyun Zhao, Chuan Lu, Xin Nie, Jian Li, Zhiyong Li, Dongmei He

Abstract readRandomized Controlled TrialMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC oral health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Jiangshan HuaDepartment of Oral Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology and Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China.
Jieyun ZhaoDepartment of Oral Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology and Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China.
Chuan LuDepartment of Oral Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology and Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China.
Xin NieBiostatistics Office of Clinical Research Unit, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China.
Jian LiSuzhou Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Stemmatological Center Of Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, 215000, China. lijian0224@foxmail.com.
Zhiyong LiStomatology Hospital, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang Provincial Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Research of Zhejiang Province, Engineering Research Center of Oral Biomaterials and Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Cancer Center of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310000, China. hxlzy2002@zju.edu.cn.
Dongmei HeDepartment of Oral Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology and Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China. lucyhe119@163.com.

Funding

CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences 2019-I2M-5-037Cross-disciplinary Research Fund of Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong university School of Medicine JYJC202203Shanghai's Top Priority Research Center 2022ZZ01017the National Natural Science Foundation of China 32071313
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Kovacs digital splint is a new approach for treating temporomandibular disorders (TMD), but comparative studies on its clinical efficacy versus traditional occlusal splints are still lacking. MATERIALS AND

methodsPatients from three centers were randomly assigned to the experimental group (Kovacs digital splint, KDS) or the control group (soft splint, SS). Pain, mouth opening, and clicking before treatment (T0), after 14 ± 5 days (T1), and 35 ± 5 days (T2) treatment were evaluated. The effective rate of symptoms improvement between the two groups and subgroups including gender, age, disease stage, and symptom types were compared.

resultsA total of 264 patients were included. Both groups showed significant improvement in pain, mouth opening, and clicking after treatment (P < 0.05). The KDS group had a higher overall effective rate than the SS group (61.1% vs. 47.5%, P < 0.025). In patients aged over 40 years and with normal condylar relationships who had myogenous pain, the effective rates of KDS were significantly higher than SS (P < 0.05).

conclusionThe clinical efficacy of KDS for treating TMD was superior to SS, especially for myogenous TMD.

trial registrationID: ChiCTR2200064940, Date of Registration: 10/24/2022.

Indexed as

Occlusal SplintsTemporomandibular Joint DisordersAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedTreatment OutcomeYoung AdultDigital splintSoft splintTemporomandibular disorders

Identifiers

PMID42092880
PMCPMC13343801

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.