Comparative study of analgesic effectiveness of tramadol and ketorolac in the pain management of surgical removal of third molar: a randomized double blinded study

AIM: Assessing the efficacy of drug in controlling pain intensity after surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molar teeth and to compare the effects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted. 40 patients were randomly selected and divided into two equal groups. Group A received 50 mg of tramadol orally and Group B received 10 mg of ketorolac orally. In both groups dose was repeated for next 24 hrs. Visual analogue scale was used for the collection of pain intensity from the patients. RESULTS: The results revealed, in Group A, the analgesia started within 1 hour and reached the maximum analgesic effect in 4 hours, pain intensity was 1.8 out of 10, on visual analog scale. In Group B, analgesia started within 1hour and showed it’s maximum analgesic effect. The pain intensity was 2.5 on visual analog scale. The analgesic effect of 50 mg tramadol lasted up to 6 hours and that of ketorolac lasted for 5 hour. CONCLUSION: The study shows that 50mg tramadol is a suitable and safe analgesic for the relief of post-extraction pain and is more effective than 10mg ketorolac with prolonged analgesia and minimal side effects, we recommend studies with randomized clinical trials with larger sample size are needed it in clinical practice.