São Paulo, Brazil: The sublingual administration of cannabis extracts containing equal amounts of THC and CBD significantly reduces myofascial pain in patients with Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD), according to data published in the journal Clinics.
Brazilian researchers compared the efficacy of cannabis extracts versus a placebo in 20 patients with chronic myofascial pain. Study participants consumed the placebo for 90 days. They then consumed cannabis extracts daily for 90 additional days. Patients initiated cannabis treatment with a dose of 2 mg/day for the first week, gradually increasing by 2 mg/week until reaching 10 mg/day in the fifth week.
The cannabis intervention yielded a “robust analgesic effect on all evaluated outcomes,” researchers reported. Overall, patients experienced a nearly 4-point reduction in their TMD-related pain (on a zero to 10 numerical scale) during cannabis treatment.
“Cannabinoid therapy was effective in reducing painful symptoms in TMD patients, associated with relevant functional improvements in mandibular opening, protrusion, and laterality compared to placebo,” the study’s authors concluded. “These findings indicate the clinical potential of cannabinoids as a promising therapeutic alternative for managing TMD, highlighting the need for future studies with larger samples and randomized designs to validate and enhance the action mechanisms.”
A pair of placebo-controlled trials from Poland previously reported that the use of topical gels containing CBD can reduce pain and other symptoms in patients with TMD.
Full text of the study, “Effect of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on myofascial pain modulation in patients with Temporomandibular Disorder: A prospective crossover study,” appears in Clinics.