Comparative Evaluation of Pre-Emptive Analgesic Efficacy of Intramuscular Ketorolac Versus Tramadol Following Third Molar Surgery

Pre-emptive analgesia aims at preventing the central nervous system from reaching a hyper-excitable state known as central sensitization, in which it responds excessively to afferent inputs. The clinical implication would be more effective pain management, thereby reducing post-operative pain and analgesic requirements. This study aimed at investigating the existence of pre-emptive analgesia and to compare the pre-emptive analgesic efficacy of im ketorolac [NSAID] versus tramadol [SYNTHETIC OPIOD] for post-operative pain management following third molar surgery. Fifty patients under the age group of 16–25 years with asymptomatic, symmetrically impacted mandibular third molars were equally divided into 2 groups and underwent third molar surgery under local anesthesia. Ketorolac 30 mg and tramadol 50 mg were used in the study group, while sodium chloride 0.9 % was used in the control group. Study parameters included pain intensity scores for 12 post-operative hours, time to 1st rescue analgesia, total number of analgesics consumed during the 5 post-operative days and patients’ self assessment of efficacy of the surgery with regardsto no pain. Statistically, the data are presented as the mean values with their standard deviations and a 95 % confidence interval [ p is significant, if p