Preemptive use of dexamethasone in periodontal surgery
a pilot study
Keywords:
Glucocorticoids, Dexamethasone, Analgesia, Premedication, Pain measurementAbstract
The use of anti-inflammatory drugs has been established to control pain and swelling after oral surgery. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy of dexamethasone on postoperative pain control in periodontal surgery. Eighteen patients presenting moderate or severe chronic periodontitis, accompanied by clinical signs of inflammation after nonsurgical therapy, were enrolled in this parallel, randomized, and double-blind clinical trial and received open flap debridement surgery. Each patient randomly received one of the following drug regimens one hour before surgery: Group 1 (G1) 4mg of dexamethasone, together with another 4mg dose 8 hours after the first ingestion; Group 2 (G2) 8mg of dexamethasone; Group 3 (G3) placebo. Pain intensity was evaluated every hour for the first 8 hours using the Visual Analogue Scale and the 101-point Numerical Rate Scale, analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test. Although there was a tendency for lesser pain intensity values in G2 in all experimental periods, the results demonstrated no significant difference among the groups (p>0.05). Within the limits of this pilot study, it could be concluded that preemptive medication with dexamethasone was not superior to placebos for the management of postoperative pain following open flap debridement surgery.
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