ABSTRACT
The management of acute pain in dentistry has several unique features. While pain during therapy is usually adequately controlled by local anaesthesia, postoperative pain control is often inadequate either because of insufficient relief of pain or because of unacceptable sideeffects. Ibuprofen is the prototype of the newer nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs class of analgesics, being first introduced into clinical practice in the United States in 1974. Pharmacological intervention in the management of chronic orofacial pain is usually considered adjunctive to definitive treatment on the assumption that more definitive treatments will eventually correct the underlying pathophysiological process. Comparison of administration of ibuprofen prior to periodontal surgery versus administration immediately following surgery demonstrated that both groups experienced a significant delay in pain onset in comparison to placebo. A comprehensive review of the primary literature reveals little scientific support for the idea that the daily use of newer nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs offers benefit for chronic orofacial pain.
