Endodontic post-treatment pain management is one of the most challenging problems in the clinical practice of endodontics. Although this pain is decreased after root canal treatment, there may be residual symptoms due to inflammation. It has been reported that up to 80% of patients with preoperative pain, will report pain after endodontic treatment, which might range from mild to severe. Management of endodontic pain should involve all steps of treatment including preoperative pain control through accurate diagnosis and reduction of anxiety, intraoperative pain control through effective and profound local anesthetic, operative techniques and that can be achieved through a variety of pharmacologic agents. Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain the reason for postoperative pain including the sensitization of nociceptors by inflammatory mediators. Among these chemical inflammatory mediators are the prostaglandins which is the terminal product of arachidonic acid metabolism, through the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway. Endodontic treatment can cause the release of inflammatory mediators (e.g. prostaglandins, leukotrienes, bradykinin, platelet- activating factor and substance P) into the surrounding periapical tissues, causing pain fibers to be directly stimulated (by bradykinin for instance) or sensitized (by prostaglandins). In addition, the vascular dilation and increased permeability as a consequence of periradicular inflammation, cause edema and increased interstitial tissue response. Single-visit root canal treatment is common in some endodontic practices. However, one of the main concerns with this approach has been the fear of post- operative pain. Mechanical, chemical and microbiological injuries to the peri- radicular tissues during root canal treatment have been suggested as possible causes of post-operative pain. The role of irrigating solutions used during root canal treatment to help control post-operative pain is unclear. While certain studies have observed a reduction in post-operative pain with particular types and concentrations of irrigating solutions, other studies have reported no difference in post-operative pain with the different irrigating solutions .
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post operative pain
Timeframe: intensity of pain by categorical scale from 1-4