The effect of preoperative oral administration of prednisolone on postoperative pain in patients with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis: a single centre randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Aim

This single-centre randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial assessed the effect of preoperative, single, oral dose of prednisolone on postoperative pain and postoperative analgesic intake in patients with symptomatic, irreversible pulpitis in mandibular molars.

Methodology

Four hundred participants, randomly assigned into two equal groups, received either 40mg prednisolone or placebo tablets 30min before single-visit root canal treatment. Patients recorded their pain level 6, 12 and 24h after treatment on a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS). All patients received a sham capsule to take if needed as a postoperative analgesic and, if the pain persisted, an analgesic was prescribed. The relative risk reduction and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for binary data. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare postoperative pain intensity between groups.

Results

The relative risk reduction of pain incidence was 20.31% (95% CI: 12.03%, 27.82%) at 6h, 23.39% (95% CI: 14.75%, 31.16%) at 12h and 28.85% (95% CI: 18.08%, 38.20%) at 24h. Prednisolone had significantly less post-obturtion pain intensity compared to placebo at 6, 12 and 24h (p<0.001). The relative risk reduction of sham-capsule intake was 54% (95% CI: 38%, 66%) and of analgesic intake was 55% (95% CI: 3%, 79%). No adverse effects were recorded.

Conclusion

Preoperative oral administration of a single dose of 40mg prednisolone was beneficial to control short-term post-obturation pain after single visit root canal treatment in patients with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis reducing pain incidence after 24h by approximately 30% and postoperative analgesic intake by approximately 55%.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

http://ift.tt/2rmP8l3