A COMPARISON OF 2 ANALGESIC REGIMENS FOR THE CONTROL OF POSTOPERATIVEPERIODONTAL DISCOMFORT

A SINGLE BLIND STUDY Of 24 patients compared the postoperative periodo ntal pain relief and adverse effects associated with a pretreatment re gimen with etodolac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), to a typical pro re nada (prn) regimen with a combination of acetaminoph en with hydrocodone. Patients selected required one or more periodonta l osseous surgeries that were judged to involve relatively similar deg rees of surgical manipulation. Patients in the etodolac group received two 300 mg capsules 30 minutes prior to surgery and then redosed them selves pm. Patients who received the combination drug were not premedi cated and followed a pm regimen. The subjects used a verbal analogue s cale to report levels of pain hourly for the first 8 hours (starting 3 0 minutes prior to surgery) and also indicated any side effects experi enced during the first week after surgery. Specific parameters monitor ed were the mean sum of hourly pain scores, mean hourly pain scores, t ime to first medication, number of postoperative doses, and adverse ef fects. Of the parameters studied, the only one that showed a statistic ally significant difference was the time to first medication. The time span from 30 minutes prior to the beginning of surgery to the first p ostsurgical dose was greater for etodolac than for the combination dru g. However, the total number of medications taken under both regimens was similar. The side effects were minimal for both of the drugs studi ed. It was concluded that the analgesic regimens tested under clinical practice conditions were comparable in providing analgesia with minim um side effects in uncomplicated periodontal osseous surgery. Studies with larger numbers of patients are needed to definitively address whe ther these regimens are truly equivalent.