Fitting acrylic occlusal splints and an experimental laminated appliance used in migraine prevention therapy

To evaluate clinical procedures and chair time required to seat and adjust hard, heat-cured acrylic occlusal splints and an alternative laminated appliance developed to simplify construction of migraine prevention appliances.

Single-centre study in the Oral Medicine Clinic, The Royal Hospitals, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Questionnaires were distributed, January-May 2003, to operators fitting occlusal splints for 100 consecutive patients selected for migraine prevention therapy. Half the appliances were made in heat-polymerised acrylic with the remainder using a novel combination of ethylene vinyl acetate and light-curing urethane dimethacrylate. Information on operator experience, the nature of any fitting surface and occlusal adjustments together with an estimate of the time taken to make alterations was recorded.

The need for adjustment to seat appliances intraorally was significantly less for migraine prevention appliances made using an experimental laminating technique. Where modifications were necessary, there was no significant difference in the chair time required to fit either the heat-cured hard or experimental laminated migraine prevention appliance.

Provision of migraine prevention appliances may be more time efficient if the dental practitioner considers a laminated approach to construction.