Effectiveness of various medications on post operative pain of vital teeth after root canal therapy

Postoperative pain following root canal therapy is of concern for endodontic patients and dentists. Despite the fact that the pain relief afforded by endodontic is effective, it is rarely immediate and complete. The purpose of this double blind study was to compare the efficacy of betamethasone, indomethacin, ibuprofen, used commonly to control post endodontic pain or a placebo. This randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study included 100 patients with symptomatic, vital and one canal tooth. Patients were randomly allocated into one of the four groups to receive treatment three times a day with ibuprofen [400 mg], betamethasone [2 mg], indomethacin [75 mg] or placebo following completion of root canal treatment. The patients recorded pain intensity on a special chart [visual analogue scale] at time intervals of 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours after treatment. ANOVA and t-test was used to determine statistical significance. p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. In the placebo group, the mean pain score was significantly higher than in all the groups in different time after treatment. In the ibuprofen group, patients experienced significantly more pain than in the indomethacin and betamethasone groups, in 6 and 12 hours after treatment but the difference was not significant in 24 and 48 hours. The mean pain score was not significant difference between indomethacin and betamethasone group. The results demonstrate that the betamethasone and indomethacin may be more effective than ibuprofen for the management of postoperative pain after nonsurgical endodontic treatment when patients present with moderate to severe pain

[Level of glycemic control in diabetic patients reffering to zahedan dental school [Iran] in 2005]

Currently, diabetes is a basic problem in many countries. Increase in the prevalence of diabetes places dentists in the position of the first member of a health care team to detect new cases of diabetes. Besides, dentists must also be able to render dental care to patients who are already being treated for diabetes. Because of importance of glycemic control of diabetic patients in dental treatment plan and strong correlation between oral complications and level of glycemic control, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of glycemic control in diabetic dental patients before dental procedures. At this cross sectional study, 100 diabetic patient's reffered to Oral Medicine Department of Zahedan Dental School, were studied [from May to March 2005]. After an informed consent of diabetic patients, patient's blood sample was taken in standard conditions, sent to laboratory to detect level of HbA1c and the level of glycemic control was determined in patients. Data were analyzed by the Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and t-tests. Thirty two percent of patients had good glycemic control [6%