Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare postoperative pain and the amount of analgesic intake after administration of a preoperative single dose of sodium ibuprofen versus placebo in lower molar teeth with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis (SIP)
Methods: Fifty patients were randomly divided into two groups, in the experimental group, patients were given one tablet of sodium ibuprofen (NUROFEN) 256 mg, 30 minutes before endodontic treatment, and control group patients received one placebo tablet, 30 minutes before endodontic treatment. Participants rated their pain using a visual analogue pain scale (VAS) preoperatively and at 5-time points: immediately post-operative, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours and the number of analgesic tablets taken up to 48 hours postoperatively.
Results: Baseline characteristics of both groups showed non-significant differences (P >0.05). The sodium ibuprofen group revealed statistically significantly less postoperative pain levels at 6, 12, and 24 hours, respectively, and was associated with significantly less postoperative pain incidence at 6 and 12 hours (p<0.05). No patient reported analgesic intake
Conclusions: Within the study limitations, single preoperative oral dose of Nurofen proved to be an effective premedication that reduced post-operative pain for patients diagnosed with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis of mandibular molars.