From the available evidence we cannot determine whether or not preoperative analgesics are of benefit in paediatric dentistry for procedures under local anaesthetic. There is probably a benefit in prescribing preoperative analgesics prior to orthodontic separator placement.
Comparison of preoperative ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and placebo administration on the parental report of postextraction pain in children.
Previous investigations demonstrated that administering a preoperative analgesic can reduce postextraction pain in adults. Studies also have shown that ibuprofen was superior in alleviating postextraction pain when compared with acetaminophen. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of the preoperative administration of ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and placebo in reducing postextraction pain in children. Sixty children, aged 2-10 years, requiring primary teeth extractions, were selected to participate in the study. Patients were assigned in a blind, random fashion to one of the three pretreatment drug groups. Parental report of their child's pain and use of analgesics during the immediate 7-hr postoperative period was elicited by telephone the day after the extraction procedure. Thirty-five percent of the patients were reported by their parents to experience postextraction pain. Of those patients, 52% received postoperative analgesics for pain relief (18% of the total). Although there was a trend toward reduced postextraction pain reported by the parents, the preoperative administration of neither analgesic was found to be statistically superior by chi-square analysis to placebo administration.