Efficacy of pre-operative diclofenac sodium in the control of post-endodontic pain

Abstract

Introduction: The severity as well as the incidence of postoperative pain are associated with specific dental treatments, the highest being root canal therapy. The postoperative pain incidence has been reported to range from 3% to 58% after root canal treatment. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of preoperative diclofenac sodium in the control of post-endodontic pain. Materials and Method: 120 patients were randomly selected and clinical examinations were conducted. The patients were randomly allocated using simple randomization technique into 2 experimental groups: Group 1, diclofenac sodium (VOVERON SR, 100 mg-oral) and Group 2, placebo (sucrose tablets). Both medications were administered 30 min before conventional root canal therapy. Patients were instructed to complete a pain diary; 6, 12, and 24 h after root canal instrumentation. The method used to measure clinical pain intensity was the visual analogue scale (VAS), which consisted of a 10 cm line anchored by two extremes, “no pain” and “pain as bad as it could be.” Thus, the pain intensity was assigned into four categorical scores: a) None (0); b) Mild (1-3); c) Moderate (4-6); and d) Severe (7-10). Results: Among the 120 volunteers who completed the study, 63.63% had mild pain and 36.37% had severe pain. Post endodontic pain showed a statistically significant difference between group 1 and group 2 at 6hr, 12hr and 24hr (P