An Interesting Point

Most people think of acupuncture as ancient history, thrown out with the likes of "cure-all" elixirs and other oddities from traveling medicine shows.  Recent trends and research however, show that it is increasingly being seen as a viable treatment option.  Consider the following statistics recently reported in the March 8^th issue of the ADA News:

• About 10,000 acupuncturists are practicing in the United States – World Health Organization (WHO)
• More than one million Americans receive acupuncture each year – National Institutes of Health (NIH) 1997 Consensus Conference on Acupuncture.
• U.S. citizens spend about five hundred million dollars a year on acupuncture – U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

So what is acupuncture, does it work and if so, how?  And, what does any of this have to do with dentistry?  These are all questions that doctors, dentists and scientists at the WHO, NIH, FDA and National Council Against Health Fraud have researched and continue to seek answers to.

To understand the historical explanation for how the technique works you need to know what traditional Eastern medicine teaches about how we become sick.  Their philosophy is that the human body contains patterns of flowing energy known as Qi (pronounced chee).  The Qi, or energy, flows through specific pathways, called meridians, which extend to the organs and other parts of the body so this energy can nourish them.  The energy flowing in the meridians are of two opposite forces; the yin and the yang.  When one of the meridians is blocked this energy cannot be balanced and the person becomes sick.  Acupuncture involves manipulating certain spots, or acupoints, by needles or through acupressure (manual pressure) or other means to open up the meridians and thereby restore the balance of the yin and yang and thereby restore health.

The scientific explanation for acupuncture states that the manipulation of certain nerve endings actually releases endorphins, which are an analgesic or pain relieving protein in the brain.  

While doctors and dentists at the American College of Acupuncture have no doubt about acupuncture's ability to treat chronic pain, such as that from TMJ disorders, they say that it works too quickly, often as little as seconds, to be only the work of endorphins.  However, to date, scientific research has not yielded the answers to what makes acupuncture so effective.

The National Council Against Health Fraud contends that acupuncture is nothing more than a placebo or that it works because the patient believes it will work.

To try to solve the puzzle of acupuncture and address the placebo theory, the NIH, in 1997, heard testimony on scientific research into acupuncture's effectiveness.  Results were reported on research in which patients undergoing third molar extraction were randomly chosen to either receive actual acupuncture treatment or placebo acupuncture treatment.  The results showed that acupuncture is more than just a placebo effect.  The NIH researchers concluded that acupuncture shows "promising results in treating post-operative dental pain…also cited it's usefulness as an adjunctive treatment for other conditions including myofacial pain".

Dr. Stephen Petras