Alternative Medicine Approaches for Women With Temporomandibular Disorders

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are characterized by pain and tenderness in the muscles of mastication and/or the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), limitations of jaw opening often accompanied by deviations in mandibular path, and clicking, popping or grating TMJ sounds.

TMD is often found in association with other problems: depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal symptoms, frequent infections, etc. This project proposes to holistically address patient symptoms through three different approaches, Naturopathic Medicine (NM), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and usual care at KPNW. We will conduct a pilot test and Phase II trial to evaluate the two alternative healing approaches, TCM (n=50) and NM (n=50) delivered by TCM and NM practitioners, are as effective as usual TMD care (n=50) provided by dental clinicians in the KPNW TMD Clinic. Subjects will be females 25-55 years of age with multiple health problems (defined as patients who have had at least 4 organ system-grouped diagnoses in the past year, not including TMD). Subjects will be evaluated at baseline, 6 and 12 months after start of treatment. The primary endpoint is change from baseline in the Axis II Pain Related Disability and Psychological Status Scale. Clinical examinations, saliva samples to assess salivary cortisol levels, and responses to a series of questionnaires to assess pain, chronic pain, psychosocial functioning, and other physical symptoms will be used to assess outcomes. We will passively monitor health care utilization within KPNW using clinical, research, and administrative databases to determine whether the interventions have an impact on overall health care utilization. If either of these alternative interventions is shown to merit Phase III trial, our goal is to design and implement such a clinical trial to further evaluate the health consequences and costs of these alternative healing paradigms.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

See brief summary

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97227-1110
        • Center for Health Research, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

25 years to 55 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

- Patients who have had at least 4 organ system-grouped diagnoses in the past year, not including TMD

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Alexander White, Center for Health Research (CHR), Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 1999

Study Completion

July 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 1, 2001

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 1, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

February 2, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 18, 2006

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 17, 2006

Last Verified

August 1, 2006

More Information

Terms related to this study

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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