Intracanal use of a corticosteroid solution as an endodontic anodyne.

In fifty consecutive clinical patients with endodontically involved teeth that responded with vital pulp test readings, a corticosteroid solution and a saline placebo were alternately used as an intracanal anodyne. The patients subjectively rated their pain on a scale of 0 to 100 as "none," "mild," "moderate," and "severe" (0 = none, 1 to 33 = mild, 34 to 66 = moderate, 67 and above = severe). The ratings were done before the first treatment and then at 24, 48, and 72 hours after treatment.