Endogenous Pain Inhibition Deficiency in Chronic TMD Pain

Conditions

• Chronic Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD)

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

18 Years - 74 Years

Healthy Volunteers

Accepted

Interventions

• Pain modulation testing — OTHER
  During the visit, noxious heat stimuli will be applied bilaterally to the face and distant body sites as part of conditioned pain modulation (CPM) testing. The test stimuli will be individually tailored to be moderately painful, while the conditioning stimulus will vary in intensity: moderately painful, non-painful, and sham heat. Participants will also record daily TMD pain intensity ratings for seven days before and after the visit.

Study Details

Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) involve a range of conditions with varied causes, affecting a large portion of the U.S. population and posing challenges for diagnosis and management, especially in chronic cases. Despite advances in understanding TMD pathophysiology, the role of central sensitization, particularly deficient endogenous pain inhibition, remains unclear. The conditioned pain modulation (CPM) test, used to assess pain inhibition in chronic TMD pain, has produced inconsistent results due to varying testing parameters. The proposed cross-sectional study will investigate the efficiency of endogenous pain inhibition in individuals with chronic TMD pain compared to controls by applying noxious and non-noxious stimuli to facial and non-facial sites. The findings aim to clarify the impact of weaker pain inhibition over the face, how the conditioning stimulus' painfulness affects inhibition and the relationship between pain inhibition and fluctuations in TMD pain intensity.

Key Dates

Start date

Sep 16, 2024

Status verified

Aug 2025

Primary completion

Sep 15, 2026

Completion

Dec 15, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment

40 participants (estimated)

Arms

• Arm: Chronic Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) pain group
• Arm: Age- and sex-matched pain-free controls

Primary Outcome Measure

Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) effect [ Time Frame: 3.5 hours single in-person visit ]

Central Contacts

• Carla Campbell
  (612-625-6976
  [email protected]

Locations (1)

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