Postoperative pain intensity same with use of NaOCl or other irrigation solutions: Study

The study is published in the Journal of Endodontics.

Postoperative pain is common after endodontic treatment, so it is very important for the dentist to control this pain as well as to know how widespread the problem is. Root canal treatment must be carried out taking into account that instrumentation and obturation techniques can provoke periapical damage.

Luciana Stadler Demenech and colleagues from the School of Health Sciences, Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil carried out the present study with the aim to evaluate the postoperative pain in patients after endodontic treatment using 8.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) compared with other concentrations and 2% chlorhexidine (CHX).

In this double-blind randomized trial, the authors evaluated a total of 180 patients who underwent a single session of endodontic treatment under irrigation with 2.5%, 5.25%, or 8.25% NaOCl or 2% CHX solutions.

The presence of postoperative pain was assessed 24, 48, and 72 hours after treatment and recorded using the visual analog scale (VAS). A descriptive analysis, logistic regression, and Wald test were performed.

The following results were seen-

8. Altogether 169 patients participated, of whom 107 were women, and the mean age was 38.1 ± 14.4 years.
9. No significant differences occurred between the irrigants and the pain outcomes, not even for the use of postoperative pain medication and responses to
   VAS (P > .05).
10. In the multivariate model including irrigants, after 24 hours or at any time, a significant difference (P < .05) remained in preparation time ≥10 minutes and the presence of overfilling.
11. Also, in relation to the VAS, the overfilling presented significantly different results (P < .05).

Hence, the authors concluded by saying that "there was no significant difference in the presence of postoperative pain between the 8.25% NaOCl and the other irrigation solutions. However, the extended preparation time and the overfilling material were responsible for the increase of postoperative pain."