Suprofen versus paracetamol after oral surgery

Abstract

A randomized double-blind trial was performed to evaluate efficacy and tolerability of suprofen 200 mg (Suprocil) in comparison to paracetamol 500 mg after surgical extraction of a wisdom tooth. The study lasted 4 days per patient at the longest. Pain intensity and pain relief were evaluated by the patients using a visual analog scale. A total of 59 patients took part in the study; of these, 30 were on suprofen and 29 on paracetamol. The 30-min pain relief with paracetamol was superior to that obtained with suprofen. Roughly, the 90-min pain relief scores were somewhat higher for suprofen than for paracetamol. However, none of the differences were statistically significant. No significant difference was seen between the 2 treatment groups with respect to the frequency of the number of capsules taken per day. Broadly, the efficacy was good or excellent in 18 patients in each group. With suprofen, there were 8 moderate results and 4 insufficient ones. With paracetamol, 6 results were moderate and 5 insufficient or worse. No significant differences between the 2 treatments was seen. Tolerability was rated good by all but 1 patient in each treatment group; with suprofen, 1 result was moderate, while with paracetamol, 1 result was poor. Adverse reactions occurred in 3 patients on suprofen and in 2 patients on paracetamol, though these reactions could not be related to the use of the drug itself.