Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of two traditional acupuncture protocols on pain relief in temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients using either local or distal acupoints for mechanical needle stimulation.

Materials and methods: The sample was selected from female TMD patients with chronic pain from a specialized referral center. Clinical charts were retrieved to select patients treated by traditional acupuncture following either a protocol for application of needles in local acupoints (head, neck) or a protocol for application in distal acupoints (hands, legs, feet). Pain intensity was recorded before and after each acupuncture session by using an instrumental question with a 10-point visual analog scale (VAS). A control group consisted of nontreated patients from the waiting list for TMD treatment. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired t test, analysis of variance, and Tukey test, at a significance level of .05.

Results: Out of 102 TMD patients, 32 were treated with acupuncture at local points, 22 were treated with acupuncture at distal points, and 48 were controls. A significant decrease of mean VAS score (approximately 70%) was found after acupuncture treatments in both the local- and distal-point groups. The final VAS of each acupuncture group was lower than the control group, but the acupuncture groups showed no difference.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that acupuncture treatment reduces chronic pain in TMD patients, and the application of needle stimulation at local or distal acupoints has similar effects.