Analgesic efficacy of acetaminophen for controlling postextraction dental pain

BACKGROUND: Considering the clinical safety of acetaminophen over other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, this clinical trial was formulated to assess the analgesic efficacy of acetaminophen for controlling postextraction dental pain when compared to commonly prescribed ibuprofen. AIM: The aim was to assess the analgesic efficacy of paracetamol/acetaminophen in postextraction dental pain. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Double-blind, randomized prospective clinical trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 30 patients requiring bilateral maxillary and mandibular premolar extraction for their orthodontic treatment were included in the study to evaluate the efficacy of acetaminophen in controlling postextraction dental pain. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Unpaired t-test. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Clinically, both the postoperative analgesics exerted similar pain control with minor variations of recorded visual analog scale scores by the patients in both the groups. It may be concluded from the findings of this study that paracetamol at a dosage of 500 mg thrice a day (1.5 g) is sufficient to achieve reliable pain control following exodontia provided the surgical trauma caused to the investing tissues is minimal.