Invasive surgical procedures for the management of internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint: a systematic review and meta-analysis regarding the effects on pain and jaw mobility

Objectives This systematic review compared minimally and invasive surgical procedures to manage arthrogenous temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Materials and methods The review included clinical trials assessing surgical procedures of arthrogenous temporomandibular disorder (TMD) management by carrying out comparisons within the same surgical procedure (pre- and post-treatment) as well as between different surgical procedures. Meta-analyses were conducted only for similar comparison reporting the same outcome measures, visual analog scale (VAS) values to evaluate pain and maximum incisal opening (MIO) values. Results Of the 1,015 studies identified by the search strategy, 26 were selected for full-text reading, and 19 were included in the review. Of these, 16 studies were included in the meta-analysis and 3 in the qualitative analysis. The VAS scores showed significantly lower values after discectomies ( p