pain relief

Record Numbers Predicted to Die from Opioids in the US

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As has been covered on this site before, opioid abuse which can stem from wisdom teeth surgery at a young age is a major challenge in countries like the U.S. There are many stories of families where a young person in their teenage or twenty years has their wisdom teeth taken out and then are exposed to opioids to control pain. This exposure can lead to them become potentially addicted to opioids and then later die as a result of this addiction. Thus, finding alternatives to opioids for surgery like wisdom teeth removal is important to help curb a disturbing trend. See posts like Dentists Overprescribing Opioids to Adults in the U.S., New Research Being Conducted at Rutgers for Opioid Alternatives Could Lead to Less Potential Drug Abuse for those Having Wisdom Teeth Surgery, and Studies and Opinions on Opioids … Read more

Does Intravenous Ibuprofen Reduce Pain After Wisdom Teeth Surgery?

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An interesting article titled “Does Single-Dose Preemptive Intravenous Ibuprofen Reduce Postoperative Pain After Third Molar Surgery? A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Study” appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The article explores if intravenous ibuprofen given either shortly before or after wisdom teeth surgery has any any effect on pain experienced in the subsequent 24 hours. In the article a study is conducted using 75 patients who presented at Erciyes University in Turkey over the time period from March to October 2018 for removal of impacted lower wisdom teeth. The 75 patients were randomly divided into 3 groups with 25 patients in each. The first group of patients received 800 mg of intravenous ibuprofen 60 minutes before surgery and intravenous placebo 60 minutes after surgery, the second group of patients received intravenous placebo 60 … Read more

Does Bromelain Impact Pain, Swelling, and Mouth Opening after Wisdom Teeth Surgery?

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An interesting article titled “Oral Bromelain for the Control of Facial Swelling, Trismus, and Pain After Mandibular Third Molar Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Liu et al. The article seeks to explore if bromelain reduces pain and swelling and improves mouth opening after wisdom teeth removal. Bromelain is believed to decrease swelling by returning interstitial fluid and inflammatory component cells into the bloodstream and provide an anti-inflammatory effect by decreasing pain mediators such as prostaglandin E2 and substance P. Bromelain provides for systemic proteolytic enzyme therapy and is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes found in pineapple plants. The authors state a few articles in the past have explored using bromelain after wisdom teeth removal but with inconsistent results. For example one study showed bromelain … Read more

Tramadol for Pain Control after Wisdom Teeth Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Effect of Submucosal Injection of Tramadol on Postoperative Pain After Third Molar Surgery,” written by Iqbal et al. appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The article discusses the effectiveness of using tramadol for pain control after removing impacted lower wisdom teeth. In the article the authors conduct a study using 60 patients who presented for lower wisdom tooth removal in Mangalore, India. Patients were randomized into either group A or group B, 30 patients in each, in the double blinded study (both the patient and surgeon were unaware of the groupings). Those in group A received 1 mg/kg of tramadol diluted with 1 mL of saline solution and those in group B received 1 mL of saline solution both immediately after suturing. The injection was slowly administered into the … Read more

Reducing Opioids in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

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An interesting article titled “Opioid Prescribing Can Be Reduced in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Practice,” written by Tatch appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. In the article the author discusses the results of implementing an office protocol for pain management to reduce opioid use in oral and maxillofacial surgery during a three year time period. Results from a similar study were presented previously in a post titled Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Current Perspectives on Opioid Prescribing. In the article the author discusses how a risk of opioids is dependence which can develop after just one week of using. The author came up with a 3-year retrospective study to measure changes in opioid use after the introduction of an office protocol which was designed to offer alternatives to pain relief. In the study a … Read more