Postoperative pain in multiple-visit and single-visit root canal treatment.

Introduction: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate postoperative pain after root canal treatment at the Department of Conservative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Sudan.

Methods: Two hundred thirty-four patients were included in this study; age range was 18-62 years. Conventional endodontic treatment was carried out in the included teeth by the undergraduate dental students in a single visit or multiple visits. The chemomechanical preparation of root canals was done by a modified double-flared technique with combination of hand instruments. Postoperative pain was recorded by each patient by using visual analogue scale in well-defined categories at 2 time intervals, 12 hours and 24 hours.

Results: Data were analyzed with the chi(2) test. The overall incidence of postoperative pain was 9.0% after 12 hours and 24 hours. Postoperative pain developed in 15.9% of the patients with history of preoperative pain, whereas 7.1% had postoperative pain among those without history of preoperative pain. There was no significant difference in postoperative pain between single-visit and multiple-visit root canal treatment (RCT).

Conclusions: Within the limitations of the present study there was a low incidence of postoperative pain after conventional RCT. No significant difference exists in postoperative pain after single-visit or multiple-visit RCT.