Abstract

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EFFICACY OF ACETAMINOPHEN AND IBUPROFEN FOR PAIN CONTROL FOLLOWING ORTHODONTIC SEPARATOR PLACEMENT-A RANDOMISED, DOUBLE CONCEALED CLINICAL TRIAL

Dr. Ganesh P. Chaudhari*, Prof. Dr. G. P. Rauniar, Dr. P. R. Pokharel

ABSTRACT

Pain control after separator placement is one of the most important aspects of orthodontic treatment as culturally and ethnically distinct groups interpret and react to pain differently. This is a randomized, double concealed, 2 parallel arms, longitudinal, multiple doses, prospective clinical trial study with measurement of pain at the following time intervals: immediately before separator placement, immediately after separator placement, 2 hours post-placement, 6 hours post-placement, bedtime and 24 hours post-placement using visual analogue scales (VAS) during three conditions: teeth not touching, chewing, and biting back teeth together. In total 36 subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups: 500mg Acetaminophen or 400 mg Ibuprofen. All treatment groups received an initial dose to be taken 1hour prior to separator placement and a second dose to be taken 6 hours after the initial dose. There was statistically significant decrease in pain level in Ibuprofen group than acetaminophen group (p < .05, Mann-Whitney U test) for all three conditions over all above mentioned different time periods except at time just prior to separator placement and 24 hour after separator placement where it was not significant for any conditions. In each conditions VAS pain score was found to be highest at 24hrs and lowest at 2 hour in either group after separator placement. So it was concluded that Ibuprofen was found significantly more efficacious than Acetaminophen for pain control following orthodontic separator placement.

Keywords: Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Orthodontic separator pain.