Effects of three oral analgesics on postoperative pain following root canal preparation: A controlled clinical trial

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effect of single dose of three analgesics on postoperative endodontic pain following pulpectomy in teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Study Design: A quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Endodontics department, Fatima Jinnah Dental College Hospital Karachi, from Jan to Oct 2018. Methodology: In this Double Blind placebo controlled study, 120 subjects coming with the complaint of irreversible pulpitis in any one tooth were randomly allocated into 4 groups. Each group took either naproxen sodium (550mg), ibuprofen (400mg), tramadol (100mg) or placebo medication (multivitamin tablet) immediately after the pulpectomy appointment. A questionnaire was designed to assess the experienced pain based on VAS scale at 6, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively. Kruskal-Wallis test was applied followed by post-hoc analysis to compare the VAS scores by taking p-value ≤0.05 as significant. Results: Pain levels were significantly lower in experimental groups as compared to placebo (p<0.001) but there was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of naproxen, ibuprofen and tramadol at 6, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively. Conclusion: Naproxen, Ibuprofen and Tramadol were found to beequally effective in reducing pain after instrumentation in teeth with irreversible pulpitis.