Pain control after routine dento-alveolar day surgery: a patient satisfaction survey

Objective An audit study which examines patient's opinions on the efficienc y of two analgesic regimes prescribed to them following dento-alveolar surg ery in our Day Unit. Design Single centre prospective study. Setting Oral Surgery Day Case Unit Subjects One-hundred-and-seventy-four adults undergoing routine dento-alveo lar surgery under general anaesthetic were asked to assess their pain contr ol (on a five point scale) 1 hour after surgery, at discharge from hospital and at 24 and 48 hours post-operatively, Post-operatively, patients receiv ed ibuprofen 400 mg three times daily for five days or two tablets of parac etamol 500 mg with codeine 30 mg six hourly for 5 days if they were allergi c to aspirin or were asthmatics sensitive to aspirin. Patients were not giv en local anaesthesia intra or postoperatively. Results Completed records were obtained for 161 (93%) patients. Ibuprofen w as apparently adequate in controlling pain for 147 out of 161 patients but on further questioning 42 of these patients took supplemental analgesics an d self-prescribed paracetamol or a paracetamol combination. Thirteen patien ts who were prescribed paracetamol with codeine had adequate pain control a nd did not take supplemental analgesics. One patient did not require any an algesics post-operatively. Conclusion Telephone contact with patients 24 and 48 hours post-surgery pro vides a valuable assessment of pain control following discharge from a day surgery unit. Ibuprofen offered satisfactory control of pain for 65% (95) o f patients who underwent routine dento-alveolar surgery. Discharge prescrip tions must be given with verbal and written instructions to ensure that pat ients take the correct dose and self-prescription is within safe doses.