Management of postoperative pain in children following extractions of primary teeth under general anaesthesia: a comparison of paracetamol, Voltarol and no analgesia

Objective. The aim of this study was to compare three different pain relief regimes and the respective levels of pain recorded by children undergoing extractions of primary teeth under general anaesthesia. Methods. This was a tri-sited study carried out in three similar hospital settings, each with a different pain relief protocol. The subjects were 70 children from each site who were aged between 3 and 12 years, and were undergoing routine extractions of primary teeth. All children from the three centres used a self-report visual analogue scale to record pain preoperatively and postoperatively (15 min after recovery), and relevant pain-relief medication was noted. The efficacy of the three different pain relief regimes was then compared. Results. Children reported significantly less pain when rectal Voltarol was provided prior to the extractions, as compared to paracetamol or no analgesia. The greatest amount of pain was reported by the group who had received no analgesia. Conclusions. Voltarol appears to be the better preemptive analgesic for dental extractions under general anaesthesia when compared with paracetamol and no analgesia.