The September JADA article by Dr. Cynthia Myers and colleagues, "A Review of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use for Treating Chronic Facial Pain," was very interesting. Unfortunately, the conclusions do not follow from the data.
The authors stated that "across studies, results indicated acupuncture was at least comparable to other conservative dental treatment (for example, intraoral appliance and self-care instruction) and warranted further study."
But acupuncture is not conservative. It has potentially far greater risks than the other treatments. I think a more appropriate conclusion would be that acupuncture has not been shown to be an effective alternative to conventional, non-invasive temporomandibular disorder pain therapies.
The results for biofeedback and relaxation therapies were equally equivocal. I believe the proper conclusion for these treatments is the need for cost-benefit analysis.
As the authors state, the popularity of complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, should not blind us to the fact that very little is known about the safety and efficacy of these techniques.
