Pre-operative Analgesics for Postoperative Pain Relief After Dental Treatment

This study will be a prospective, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind trial. Patients 5-12 years old, healthy, in need of dental treatment with local anesthesia of Lidocaine 2% with adrenalin 1:100,000 in the Hadassah School of Dental Medicine will take part in the study. The dental treatment will include one of the following procedures: restoration, pulpotomy, pulpectomy, stainless steel crown, extraction. Exclusion criteria: preoperative pain, patients taking analgesics within 5 h prior to the dental treatment, allergic reaction or adverse effect to paracetamol, not available (by phone) at least 2 hours after treatment, patient refuse to drink the syrup.

Study group will receive syrup paracetamol 15 min before the dental treatment. Control group will receive placebo syrup, similar in color and viscosity, 15 min before dental treatment. the patient, the treating dentist, and the interviewer will be blind to the medication.

Data collection: age, gender, type of treatment, type of LA (infiltration /block), time of taking the preoperative analgesic, type of preoperative analgesics ( 1 or 2), time at the end of the treatment and baseline apprehension. Baseline anxiety will be recorded prior to the procedure using Facial Image Scale.

Main outcome measure: one of the main investigators will interview the patient at three time points: immediately at the end of the treatment, one hour after taking the pre-operative analgesic and by phone 2.5 hours after taking the pre-operative analgesic. The patient and his parents will be asked if the child is crying (yes/no), complaining about pain (yes/no), needed a different kind of analgesics after the treatment (yes/no). In addition, each child will describe his ⁄ her feelings regarding postoperative pain, using the Wong-Baker Facial Rating Pain Scale The first two parts of the questionnaire (time 0, 1 h) will be answered in the clinic and the last part (time 2.5 h) by phone; the children will have the scale with the faces with them.

Inclusion criteria

• healthy
• in need of dental treatment with local anesthesia

Exclusion criteria

• preoperative pain,
• patients taking analgesics within 5 h prior to the dental treatment
• allergic reaction or adverse effect to paracetamol
• not available (by phone) at least 2 hours after treatment
• patient refuse to drink the syrup
• dental treatment without local anesthesia