The effect of pretreatment submucosal injections of tramadol and dexamethasone on post-endodontic pain in mandibular molar teeth with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To establish the effects of submucosal single doses of two medicines on postoperative pain after root canal treatment in mandibular molar teeth with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis. METHODOLOGY: In this randomized controlled, double-blind clinical trial, 90 patients with the diagnosis of symptomatic irreversible pulpitis in their mandibular first or second molars were included and randomly divided into three groups (n = 30) a control group that received normal saline and two experimental groups that received a single dose of either tramadol (100 mg 2 mL-1 ) or dexamethasone (8 mg 2 mL-1 ). After local anaesthesia and before treatment, submucosal injections were administered into the mucobuccal fold adjacent to the mandibular molars, and a routine single-visit root canal treatment procedure was performed in all groups. After the root canal treatments, the patients were asked to score their pain level using the Heft-Parker visual analogue scale (0-170 mm) at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h. The experimental groups were compared using one-way anova or Kruskal-Wallis H-test. The groups that were significantly different were compared pairwise using Student's t-test or the Mann-Whitney U-test. The findings were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation or median (min-max). The categorical variables were tested using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact chi-square test, and the results were expressed as counts and percentages. RESULTS: At the 6-h and 48-h time intervals, the intensity of pain was significantly less in both the dexamethasone and tramadol groups than in the control group (P < 0.0167). At the end of 12 h, the pain level in the dexamethasone group was significantly less compared to the other groups (P < 0.0167). CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment submucosal dexamethasone and tramadol injections significantly diminished post-treatment endodontic pain of patients with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis following single-visit root canal treatment. However, dexamethasone was more effective than tramadol in pain reduction in the first 12 h.