An interventional study of Local Heat Therapy in Chronic TMD Pain and Temporomandibular Disorder, sponsored by University of Minnesota. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-23.
Sponsored by University of Minnesota · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
The proposed study will assess the effect of local heat therapy on jaw pain and jaw fatigue secondary to a teeth clenching task in chronic TMD pain cases. Researchers expect that most participants will respond to heat therapy and consequently experience reduced jaw pain and fatigue during teeth clenching. The study will assess the clinical characteristics of those participants who respond and do not respond to local heat therapy, in order to determine the common clinical characteristics for those in each response category.
591 studies on the registry are indexed under Temporomandibular Joint Disorders; 149 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 10 is below the median of 45 across 415 interventional studies indexed under Temporomandibular Joint Disorders.
Browse Temporomandibular Joint Disorders studies →University of Minnesota is the lead sponsor of 1,216 studies on the registry; 197 are open to participants now.
Of its 136 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 95 (70%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Myofascial pain must meet the following criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Has any of the following medical conditions by self-report:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Other: Local Heat Therapy
This will use a simple device provided to participants named "jaw bra", which is a head wrap with straps that goes around the chin and head that holds heated gel packs over the cheeks area
Proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations
Primary outcome includes the proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations. A bad jaw pain fluctuation is defined as an increase ≥ 20 points from a previous measure. Jaw pain ratings will be collected daily for 8 days. The proportion of pain fluctuations is defined as the number of bad jaw pain fluctuations relative to the total number of jaw pain ratings.
Time frame: 7 days following intervention
Patient change in proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations
Patient change in proportion of bad pain fluctuations will be assessed by comparing the proportion of bad jaw pain fluctuations between patients receiving heat therapy and matched patients not receiving heat therapy during the wait period.
Time frame: 7 days following intervention
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Oct 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2027, 2 months after the start.
Of 242 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Temporomandibular Joint Disorders, half reached primary completion within 11 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 21. This study's planned 2 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 246 studies reached it within 10 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 21.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Temporomandibular Joint Disorders →