Abstract
A double-blind trial of 2% aspirin ointment was performed with 40 patients with painful diseases of the oral mucosa. At the beginning of treatment, patients received a medication case containing either the 2% aspirin ointment or placebo paste. The patients were allowed to apply the medicine to themselves whenever spontaneous pain in a lesion increased. This preparation provided a topically external use in the oral cavity, and the total dosage of aspirin in paste amounted to 6-30 mg per day, which was much lower than that had been generally administered. This study drug was thus expected to avoid side effects such as peptic ulcers detected after orally prescribed dosage of aspirin. Efficacy was assessed according to the standardization of evaluation of analgesics efficacy published in 1990. Outcomes for the patients receiving the 2% aspirin ointment were superior especially on rapidity of the effect. Most patients treated with 2% aspirin ointment adhered to the prescribed regimen, and no side effects were reported. Group differences for most criteria for efficacy were statistically significant. It was concluded that the 2% aspirin ointment gave such prompt alleviation of pain associated with oral mucous ulcers that had never been reported to date.
