Differences According to the Type of Exogenous Hyaluronic Acid and its Frequency of Infiltration in the Treatment of Temporomandibular Osteoarthritis

Abstract

One of the most important minimally invasive treatments today in temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ- OA) is the intra-articular exogenous hyaluronic acid (HA) injection, which has yielded good results in pain relief and improves mandibular function with few side effects. However, the effectiveness of HA continues to be controversial, partly due to the heterogeneity in the injection protocols in their molecular weight, viscosity and frequency of infiltration, among other properties. The aim of this review is to identify the differences in the histological and clinical effects of the different types of HA and the frequency of infiltration on TMJ-OA treatment. Materials and methods: A bibliographic search was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases. The search was limited up to September 2022. Search terms included “osteoarthritis”, “hyaluronic acid, “molecular weight”, “concentration”, “viscosity”, “dose” and “temporomandibular”, using AND/OR as Boolean terms. Results: Exogenous HA in its different molecular weights offers an improvement in histological and clinical characteristics. Apparently, low and medium molecular weight HA presents better results. No clinical studies related to the degree of HA viscosity were found. Respect to the frequency of infiltration, single injection, weekly injections for 3 weeks, weekly injections for 5 weeks and other protocols are used. However, their comparison is complex. There seems to be differences in the effects of the different HA preparations for the treatment of TMJ-OA, mainly in their molecular weight. However, the evidence remains scant. © 2023, Universidad de la Frontera. All rights reserved.