Oral Ketorolac with Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block for Irreversible Pulpitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Ketorolac has advantages over other analgesics as a pre-anaesthetic medication. Considering this in mind, the present meta-analysis aims to identify the effect of oral ketorolac premedication on the anaesthetic efficacy of Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block (IANB) in patients with irreversible pulpitis. METHODS: Full-texts of eligible studies were obtained from electronic databases. The extracted data was analysed using non-Cochrane mode in RevMan 5.0 software. Relative risk [95% CI] was calculated for the success of IANB. RESULTS: Four studies were included for the final review. The success rate of IANB on 221 patients with relative risk of 1.87 [1.36, 2.56] was statistically significant favouring ketorolac. The mean difference for VAS in 171 patients was not statistically significant {-13.55 [-33.91, 6.82]}. CONCLUSION: Oral ketorolac can be successfully administered as a premedication before conventional inferior alveolar nerve block for endodontic treatment for irreversible pulpitis.