The analgesic effect of benzocaine mucoadhesive patches on orthodontic pain caused by elastomeric separators, a preliminary study

Abstract

Objectives: To study the effect of benzocaine mucoadhesive patches (20%) on orthodontic pain caused by elastomeric separators. Subjects and methods. A split-mouth design was used in 30 patients (12 female, 18 male, aged 23 ± 3.75 years). They were instructed to apply benzocaine and placebo patches randomly for right or left first permanent molars of maxillary/mandibular arches for 20 min and repeat this procedure every 6 h with a similar type patch. A 10 cm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used for pain perception assessment in patients who were given benzocaine (benzocaine group) or placebo (placebo group) patches. Pain perception (VAS) was recorded immediately after separator placement and after 2, 6, 12, 18, 24, 48 and 72 h. Results. The mean VAS (SD) for the placebo and benzocaine groups were 2.28 (1.08) and 1.63 (0.67), respectively. The pain peaked at 24 h. Significant pain perception differences were observed between groups at 2, 18, 24, 48 and 72 h. Pain perception was not different between genders or jaws investigated (p > 0.05). The Friedman test revealed significant differences in pain perception among various time intervals for benzocaine (χ ² = 99.84, p = 0.000) and placebo (χ ² = 102.361, p = 0.000) groups. Significant negative correlations (ρ) were found only between pain perception scores and patient's ages in the placebo group at 18 (−0.438), 24 (−0.526), 48 (−0.565) and 72 h (−0.458). Conclusion. The recorded mean VAS values were relatively low; however, the benzocaine 20% patches significantly reduced the post-separation orthodontic pain.