A Study on Effectiveness of Conventional Mode TENS on Trismus

Background: Trismus is un controlled inability to open the mouth or jaw. It interferes with mainly daily activities chewing, swallowing and talking, brushing teeth. It can be improve by the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and increased full jaw function. Aim: To find out the therapeutic effects of conventional mode TENS in pain reduction and increased range of motion among Trismus patients with limited mouth opening. Methodology: A convenient sample of subjects was solicited from Saveetha medical college and hospital and the subjects were divided into two groups. Group-1(control group) who were diagnosed with restricted mouth opening due to trismus were given active jaw exercises. Group-2(experimental group) with restricted mouth opening were subjected to conventional mode TENS for 20 minutes and they were given active jaw exercises before and after the application of the modality. Post-test NPRS and functional outcome were taken and documented for statistical analysis. Outcome measures: Numerical pain rating scale for jaw pain, A regular ruler for measuring the inter-incise distance. Results: Statistical analysis was done to identify the difference between pre and post test measurements by paired t test analysis. The two tailed p-value is less than 0.0001 by conventional criteria, this difference is considered to be extremely statistically significant. Conclusion: It was recognised that trismus patients were initially undergoing an increased rate of difficulty in jaw opening but after a two week exercise and conventional mode TENS application there was an appreciable increase in their mouth opening and alleviation of pain.