Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
12-23-2022
Journal
Dentistry Journal
Abstract
For patients suffering from myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) affecting muscles of mastication, traditional trigger point therapy treatment regimens can prove inconvenient, due to the short duration of pain relief after each injection and expense of repeated visits which are often not covered by insurance. We present a case of a patient treated using an alternative technique that could develop into an additional modality for treating MPS patients who are refractory to conservative treatment. This technique involves identifying and marking the patient's trigger points and surgically cauterizing each location using a Bovie electrosurgical unit. While traditional trigger point injection therapy for myofascial pain syndrome is a well-described technique with acceptable pain relief expected for a period of 8-12 weeks, this technique provided up to 24 months of adequate pain relief in a patient. While further studies are indicated before widespread adoption can be recommended, this patient's response suggests that this technique may be useful in offering longer-term pain relief compared with trigger point injection therapy.
Keywords
myofascial pain syndrome, myofascial trigger points, electrosurgery, temporomandibular disorder, pain relief, orofacial pain, headache
DOI
10.3390/dj11010003
PMID
36661540
PMCID
PMC9857744
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
12-23-2022
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Recommended Citation
Pearl, Craig; Moxley, Brendan; Perry, Andrew; and Demian, Nagi, "Successful Treatment of Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) with Surgical Cauterization of Temporalis Muscle Trigger Points: A Case Report" (2022). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 121.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthdb_docs/121
Published Open-Access
yes