Efficacy of Tramadol as Pre-emptive Analgesia in Mandibular Impacted Third Molar Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: The pre-emptive analgesia is an alternative for treating postsurgical pain. It is given before the painful stimulus begins to prevent or reduce the development of any ‘’memory’’ of the pain stimulus in the nervous system. Objective: To investigate the existence of pre-emptive analgesic efficacy of Tramadol for impacted mandibular third molar surgery. Materials and methods: This was a prospective study carried out in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Department; Dhaka Dental College & Hospital.100 patients were included and were randomly divided into two groups. Study group received injection Tramadol 50mg, 20 minutes before surgery. Control group did not receive pre-emptive analgesic. Study parameters included (1) Pain intensity scores, (2) Time to 1st rescue analgesia and (3) Total number of analgesics consumed during the 5 post-operative days. Results: Study group reported considerable pain relief in the day of surgery at hours 1, 3 and 5 with significantly lower pain intensity scores. When the mean time to first rescue analgesic was assessed, study group reported a longer pain free interval with the mean time being 7.46±1.11 hours for study and 2.43±1.72 hours for control group. Patients in the control group consumed maximum number of rescue analgesics during the 5 post-operative days and Tramadol proved more efficient by consuming fewer rescue analgesics [p<0.001]. Conclusion: Tramadol has significant pre-emptive analgesic efficacy.