Purpose: To evaluate the effect of a course of 5 weeks of joint lavage combined with sodium hyaluronate injection on temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis patients at different ages.
Methods: Forty-seven patients with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis were selected and divided into 3 groups including young group (<45 years old), middle-aged group (45-65 years old) and aged group (>65 years old). All the patients underwent a course of 5 weeks of joint lavage combined with sodium hyaluronate injection. Non-assisted maximum opening degree of mouth, the joint pain at rest and during chewing and the joint movement disorders were measured in each group at baseline and 1, 3, 6 months after treatment. The patients were measured for the quality of life at baseline and 6 months after treatment by using OHIP-14 scale. The data was processed by using SPSS 18.0 software package.
Results: The qualities of life were significantly improved for each group of patients (P<0.05). The rest pain of patients in young group (<45 years old) were significantly alleviated after treatment (P<0.05). The maximum opening of month and the mandibular movement dysfunction were improved significantly in patients of middle age group (45-65 years old) after treatment (P<0.05). All the indexes detected in the aged group after treatment (>65 years old) were significantly better than those before treatment (P<0.05) and the improvement of clinical symptoms were significantly better than that of the other 2 groups (P<0.05).
Conclusions: The clinical efficacy of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis is related to the age and the elderly patients can obtain better overall efficacy.