The Effect of Preoperative Administration of Antihistamine, Analgesic and Placebo on Postoperative Pain in Teeth with Symptomatic Apical Periodontitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To compare the effect of preoperative administration of an antihistamine, an analgesic, or a pla- cebo on postoperative pain in maxillary molar teeth with symptomatic apical periodontitis.
Design: A randomized, controlled trial.
Methods: Population: A total of 51 patients with moderate-to-severe maxillary molar tooth pain who have undergone a root canal treatment.
Intervention: Preoperative administration of either an antihistamine or an analgesic.
Control: Versus placebo
Outcomes: Reduction in postoperative pain? The data were analyzed with chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) post-hoc tests.
Results: At days 1 and 3, preoperative administration of the antihistamine and analgesic resulted in lower pain levels than the placebo. At days 5 and 7, however, while preoperative administration of the antihista- mine still resulted in less pain than the placebo, there was no significant difference between the analgesic and placebo (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Within the limitations of the present study, the preoperative administration of an antihistamine can be beneficial in reducing the postoperative pain of endodontic treatments.