Pain relief following oral day case surgery: a pilot study

One hundred consecutive, adult patients attending for bilateral mandibular third molar removal utilising standardised surgical and day case general anaesthetic protocols were recruited into a pilot study to investigate the effectiveness of different peri-operative analgesic regimes. Patients were randomised into five study groups using various pre- or post-operative combinations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and/or LA block. Pain scores were recorded pre-operatively and at 30 min intervals for 2 h after surgery, as were details of the first dose of ‘escape analgesia’ (codeine/paracetamol compound preparation). There was no statistically significant difference in overall pain experience between the groups, although the results suggested better pain relief was achieved in those patients who received both post-op NSAID and post-op LA. Further research is required to improve post-operative pain relief for patients undergoing third molar surgery.