Comparison of Analgesic Efficacy of Tramadol and Tapentadol in Impacted Mandibular Third Molar Surgery: A Randomized, Double Blind Clinical Study.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The chronological age of eruption of third molars is between 18 and 24 years with wide variation in the eruption time. The eruption failure being very common makes the extraction of impacted third molars one of the most frequent surgical procedures in the maxillofacial region. Materials and Methods: A study was conducted on one hundred patients who visited the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Subbiah institute of Dental Sciences for the removal of impacted mandibular third molars to compare the analgesic efficacy of tramadol and tapentadol in patients undergoing surgical extraction of impacted mandibular molars. Patients were divided into two equal groups, group A and group B. Patients were randomly assigned in either treatment groups with an assigned code. Both patient and investigator were not aware of the drug code. Group A patients received 50mg tramadol and group B patients received 50mg tapentadol orally immediately after surgery and 12 hours after surgery. Results: VAS score of group A was 6.22±0.65 and group B was 5.92±0.97 at the end of 2 hours. VAS score of group A was 6.18±1.08 and group B was 5.76±1.25 at the end of 8 hours. VAS score of group A was 6.36±0.96 and group B was 6.46±1.2 at the end of 12 hours. VAS score of group A was 6.2±1.2 and group B was 6.2±1.47 at the end of 24 hours. VAS scores, statistically were found to be in significant between two groups. All patients had moderate pain at the end of 2 hours, 92% of group A and 96% of group B patients had moderate pain at the end of 8 hours. Mild pain was noted in most patients around 24 hours according to the categorical pain scale. Conclusion: A study was conducted to compare the analgesic efficacy of tramadol and tapentadol on patients undergoing third molar surgeries. The results of the statistical analysis suggested that Tramadol and Tapentadol are effective in managing postoperative pain and neither of the drugs mentioned above were superior to other.