Effectiveness of Intracanal Cryotherapy using Different Irrigants on Reduction of Post Endodontic Pain – A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Recently the non-pharmacological management of post endodontic pain has been extensively studied. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of intracanal cryotherapy in reducing postoperative endodontic pain. A comprehensive search was conducted by accessing electronic databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, Google and EBSCO. Articles evaluating the effect of intracanal cryotherapy in reducing postoperative pain using different irrigating agents which were published till November 2020 were included in the study. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias criteria. Meta-analysis was performed for ten studies and tested the heterogeneity using I2 index. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was done for thirteen and ten studies respectively. Intracanal cryotherapy was found to be effective in reducing post-operative pain at 6 hours and 24 hours. Within the limitations of the study, it can be concluded that intracanal cryotherapy using cold saline or 17% EDTA at a temperature range of 2.5°C to 6°C as final irrigating agent helps in reducing postoperative pain at 6 hrs and 24 hrs following single-visit or multi visit root canal treatment in teeth diagnosed with irreversible pulpitis with apical periodontitis.