A double-blind placebo-controlled comparison of tramadol/acetaminophen and tramadol in patients with postoperative dental pain

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the analgesic efficacy of tramadol/acetaminophen (APAP) (total dose 75 mg/650 mg) and tramadol (total dose 100 mg) for the control of pain after oral surgery. A total of 456 patients with moderate-to-severe pain within 5 h after extraction of two or more third molars were randomized to receive two identical encapsulated tablets containing tramadol/APAP 37.5 mg/325 mg, tramadol 50 mg, or placebo. Tramadol/APAP was superior to tramadol (P<0.001) or placebo (P<0.001) on all efficacy measures: total pain relief (PAR) over 6 h (7.4, 2.5, and 1.5, respectively, on a scale of 0–24); sum of pain intensity differences (PIDs) (3.1, 0.6, and 0.1, respectively, on a scale of −6 to 18); and sum of PAR and PID (10.5, 3.1, and 1.6, respectively, on a scale of −6 to 42). Median times to onset of perceptible and meaningful PAR were 37.6 and 126.5 min, respectively, for the tramadol/APAP group (P<0.001 for each, compared with tramadol and placebo arms). The most common adverse events with active treatment were nausea, dizziness, and vomiting; these events occurred more frequently in the tramadol group than in the tramadol/APAP group. This study established the superiority of tramadol/APAP 75 mg/650 mg over tramadol 100 mg in the treatment of acute pain following oral surgery.