Pain Control Following Impacted Mandibular Third Molar Surgery: A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Different Protocols

Surgical removal of an impacted mandibular third molar is one of the most common procedures in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Ten million third molars are extracted from approximately 5 million people in the United States each year. Research suggests that wisdom tooth removal has an immediate negative impact on patients' working and social lives: in one study, patients took an average of 1.6 days off work, with over one-third of patients stating that the surgery had affected their performance at work. Postoperative complications may include swelling, bruising, and limited mouth opening, along with difficulty with eating, which can be a major concern to patients and has not been appreciated by healthcare professionals in the past. However, patients are often most concerned about postoperative pain, which may be severe. Approximately one in two patients will experience pain despite analgesic therapy, even one week after surgery. The inflammatory response to surgical trauma is associated with edema, discomfort, dehiscence, and trismus, and these factors may affect the patient's everyday life. The control of these symptoms is frequently based on pharmacological manipulation of local and systemic pain and inflammation mediators. Combining two analgesic agents with distinct mechanisms or sites of action, such as combining a peripherally acting analgesic with a centrally acting analgesic, has been advocated for many years. A common example is the analgesic formulation containing acetaminophen combined with the opioid hydrocodone or paracetamol with ibuprofen. The pain control of single showed that the maximum effect is recorded in the first 2 to 3 hours. Combining two agents tends to increase the effect for 6 to 8 hours. However, as both medication actions commence simultaneously in the latter combination, they are likely to fade in the same way. This may make the patient likely to overdose on such medicine to ensure the continuity of pain relief. This research aims to test the combination of classical pain medication but in a novel alternate way to minimize the dosage and avoid the risk of side effects and toxicity.