Comparison between preoperative and post-operative administration of paracetamol, ibuprofen and mefenamic acid for post-extraction pain control

Pain is a common aftereffect following a dental treatment, especially extractions. Hence, the main aim of the study was to compare the effect of pre-operative and post-operative analgesic usage on post-operative pain management following dental treatment. Moreover, the efficacies of three types of painkillers (Paracetamol, Ibuprofen and Mefenamic Acid) in pain relief were also evaluated. Volunteers (n = 120) who were undergoing extraction participated in this study and were randomly divided into two groups. One group consisting of 60 participants were given pre- and post-operative analgesics while another group (n = 60) received post-operative analgesics only. A visual scale was used to record pain from zero to 56 hours post-operatively at 8-hour intervals. The results showed that patients who were taking analgesics pre-operatively experienced significantly (p = 0.0045) less pain compared to those who had taken post-operative analgesics only However, a lower cumulative number of moderate and severe experiences of post-extraction pain was recorded for the pre- and post-operative analgesic treatment groups as compared to the postoperative only analgesic treatment group; no significant differences were observed. Moreover, no significant differences were observed among the analgesics used in this study as well. On the basis of these results, we conclude that preoperative analgesic usage has a positive impact on postextraction acute pain management.