Objective: Ibuprofen – a non‑steroidal anti‑inflammatory drug (NSAID)‑ and glucosamine
sulfate – a natural compound and a food supplement‑ are two therapeutic agents which have
been widely used for treatment of patients with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders.
This study was aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of these two medications in
the treatment of patients suffering fromTMJ disorders.
Methods: After obtaining informed consent, 60 patients were randomly allocated to two
groups. Patients with painful TMJ,TMJ crepitation or limitation of mouth opening entered
the study. Exclusion criteria were history of depressive disorders, cardiovascular disease,
musculoskeletal disorders, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, kidney or liver dysfunction
or diabetes mellitus, dental diseases needing ongoing treatment; taking aspirin or warfarin,
or concomitant treatment of TMJ disorder with other agents or methods.Thirty patients
were treated with ibuprofen 400  mg twice a day,  (mean age 27.12  ±  10.83  years) and
30 patients (mean age 26.60 ± 10) were treated with glucosamine sulfate 1500 mg daily.
Patients were visited 30, 60 and 90 days after starting the treatment, pain and mandibular
opening were checked and compared within and between two groups.
Findings: Comparing with baseline measures, both groups had significantly improved
post‑treatment pain (P < 0.0001 for both groups) and mandibular opening (P value: 0.001
for glucosamine sulfate and 0.03 for ibuprofen).Post treatment pain and mandibular opening
showed significantly more improvement in the glucosamine treated patients (P < 0.0001 and
0.01 respectively).Rate of adverse events was significantly lower in the P value glucosamine
sulfate group (P < 0.0001).
Conclusion: This investigation demonstrated that comparing with a commonly prescribed
NSAID – ibuprofen‑, glucosamine sulfate is a more effective and safer therapeutic agent for
treatment of patients with TMJ degenerative join disorder.