Abstract
To assess the effect of acetaminophen (Calonal®) as a pre-emptive analgesic agent for alleviating postoperative pain after removal of impacted lower third molars.
The study protocol was approved by the institutional ethics committee, and the patients gave their informed consent in writing. The subjects were 40 patients with an impacted lower third molar who were randomly divided into 4 groups: (1) control (lactose 1.0g, n = 10), (2) C500 (acetaminophen 500mg, n = 10), (3) C1000 (acetaminophen 1000mg, n = 10), (4) R (flurbiprofen axetil 50mg, n = 10). A vein in all patients was secured and tooth extraction was performed under intravenous sedation. Control, C500 and C1000 were given the medicines orally 30 minutes before the extraction. In R, lactose was given orally and flurbiprofen axetil intravenously 30 minutes before the extraction. The postoperative pain was evaluated by VAS pain score and the pain free period. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (Kruskal Wallis and Steel-Dwass tests for the VAS pain scores of each group, Kruskal Wallis and Turkey tests for the pain free period, p < 0.05).
The VAS of C500, C1000 and R were significantly suppressed until 90 minutes after operation. At 120 minutes, the VAS of R and C1000 were significantly decreased compared to C500, but there was no significant difference between R and C1000. The pain free period was extended in the order of C500, C1000 and the R. Although it was significantly extended in C1000 and R compared to the C500 Group, no significant difference was observed between C1000 and R.
Preadministration of acetaminophen is effective in suppressing postoperative pain after tooth removal, and by increasing it up to 1000mg, the effect of pre-emptive analgesia equal to flurbiprofen axetil 50mg can be obtained.
