Comparison of three pain scales after impacted third molar surgery

Objective. Recently, a pain assessment scale called "full cup test" (FCT) has been suggested for pain evaluation. It is claimed to be easier to use for the patient, and it allows using parametric tests for statistical analyses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of the FCT in third molar surgery. Study design. The FCT was compared with 2 well accepted pain scales. Forty-eight patients who had fully impacted lower third molars were included. All patients were asked to fill 3 pain scales-visual analog scale (VAS), verbal rating scale (VRS), and FCT-daily during the first postoperative week. Then the scales were collected and data statistically analyzed. Agreement among VAS, VRS, and FCT was evaluated using the Spearman rank coefficient. Results. Correlations among 3 scales were very high and significant (P < .001). Conclusions. The FCT can be used to assess the postoperative pain after third molar surgery. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2011;112:715-718)