Preoperative piroxicam for postoperative analgesia in dental surgery. Fifty patients were allocated randomly to receive placebo or piroxicam 40 mg, 2.5 h before surgical removal of lower third molars under general anaesthesia. A significantly greater number of patients in the piroxicam group did not require opioid analgesia after operation (P less than 0.05). The piroxicam group also required fewer doses of paracetamol in the first 24 h after recovery from anaesthesia (P less than 0.05), and the time from recovery to first postoperative analgesia was longer in those patients who had received piroxicam (P less than 0.05). Piroxicam did not significantly prolong the duration of recovery from anaesthesia. 