The use of intra-articular opioids and bupivacaine for analgesia following temporomandibular joint arthroscopy: A prospective, randomized trial

Purpose: This investigation evaluated the efficacy of using intra-articular morphine, bupivacaine, or a combination of both in the management of postarthroscopy temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two consecutive patients with internal derangements of the TMJ and persistent pain underwent TMJ arthroscopy. The patients were randomized equally into 4 groups. Group I received a sterile saline solution (control), group 2 received bupivacaine alone, group 3 received only a morphine solution, and group 4 received morphine mixed with bupivacaine. The patients recorded postarthroscopy pain using a visual analog scale (VAS), as well as analgesic consumption for 24 hours. The VAS and analgesic consumption were compared in the 4 groups. Results: Group 3 (bupivacaine alone) consumed, on average, 5.1 fewer analgesic equivalents than did group I (control) over the 24-hour period of study (P < .05). Other-wise, there was no significant difference in the number of analgesic equivalents consumed by the 4 groups. Patients treated with bupivacaine alone and those with morphine alone had significantly lower pain scores than the controls. However, there was no significant difference between the pain scores of the morphine and bupivacaine groups at any time. Patients treated with the mixture of morphine and bupivacaine showed no significant difference from controls at any time. Conclusions: Bupivacaine alone provides a better analgesic effect than morphine alone or the combination of morphine and bupivacaine. Morphine alone has a longer time of onset, with less effect on the pain scores during the 24-hour observation period. (C) 2001 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.