Comparative efficacy of pre emptive Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, and Diclofenac for post operative pain relief in surgical extractions

Abstract

Background: Post operative pain management is crucial and remains a source of concern post surgical extractions. Insufficient analgesia and the subsequent pain affect the patient physically and psychologically. Drugs (NSAIDS) are one of the most commonly used treatment modalities for pain relief for surgical extraction.

Materials and methods: Sixty patients are divided into 3 groups with 20 patients each . The groups were administered pre emptive analgesia based on their randomisation- paracetamol, diclofenac and ibuprofen. Post operative pain at 2, 4 and 6 post surgical extraction were measured on the VAS scale.

Results:A p-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.There was a significant decrease in mean pain VAS scores for diclofenac  group compared to paracetamol and ibuprofen groups at 4 hours postoperatively (one-way Analysis of Variance: p=0.0001, p=0.001) and 6 hours postoperatively (p=0.04, p=0.005) and this result was statistically significant.

Conclusion: Pre emptive Diclofenac was more effective than paracetamol or ibuprofen for reducing postoperative pain associated with surgical extraction.Patients’ post operative anxiety levels and distress are also adequately controlled with it. Using diclofenac could be of great help to patients who are in moderate to severe pain during surgical dental procedures.