Date of Graduation

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

Committee Chair

C. Russell Jackson

Abstract

The purpose of this clinical study was to determine if pre-operative administration of rofecoxib would significantly reduce post-endodontic pain, when compared to ibuprofen. Twenty-one patients requiring conventional root canal therapy were evaluated. Each of these patients were diagnosed as having periapical pain. The patients consented to a single-blind, random, oral administration of either 50mg rofecoxib or 600mg ibuprofen prior to conventional one-visit endodontic treatment. The evaluation of pain was completed on a pain survey that consisted of visual analog scales at the following time intervals: initial, immediately after, 4 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours after initiation of root canal therapy. Each patient was given a rescue medication of 7.5mg hydrocodone/750mg acetaminophen and was instructed to take it if it was needed and to record if and when it was taken. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the abilities of rofecoxib and ibuprofen in controlling pain at any of the evaluated time intervals (P-value=0.9230). It was also found that neither the type of periapical pain nor the pulpal diagnosis played a significant role in the need for additional medication (Pvalue=0.6205; P-value=0.1224 respectively). Those subjects who received ibuprofen

tended to need additional medication sooner than those who received rofecoxib prior to treatment (ibuprofen=14.5 hrs; rofecoxib=21.3 hrs). This study concluded that there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of rofecoxib and ibuprofen on post-endodontic pain when administered prior to treatment.

Download

Share

COinS