Contemporary Topical Therapeutics for Temporomandibular Joint Pain; A Review of the Literature

Pain is the main reason for patients with temporomandibular joint disorders to attend dental clinics seeking for treatment. As for the most common musculoskeletal conditions, pharmacotherapy can be used in temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). However, there has been a shift in public and medical opinion away from systemic analgesics once medical and dental profession became concerned about the use of such medications with adverse events. Topical analgesics may potentially achieve similar effects to oral formulations without their systemic drawbacks. This review focuses on the contemporary topical agents used in the treatment of TMD. An advanced search of publications from 1980 to 2016 was made in ScienceDirect, PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar databases.