Single versus Multiple Sitting Endodontic Treatment: Incidence of Postoperative Pain - A Randomized Controlled Trial

The aim of the study is to assess any considerable differences in the incidence and severity of postobturation pain after single- and multiple-visit root canal treatment.

We carried our study on 400 successive patients who needed root canal treatment. They were randomly categorized into two groups of 200 each. First group underwent single-visit treatment and the other group underwent multiple-visit therapy. Visual analog scale was employed to evaluate pain preoperatively and postoperatively at 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after obturation. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 was employed for analysis.

There was a male predominance (235; 60.26%). Of 390 cases, 167 were vital and 223 were nonvital. There was an insignificant difference between the preoperative and postoperative pain levels of vital and nonvital teeth of both the groups at different time intervals.

There was a less incidence of pain in multiple visit group than single-visit one, which was statistically significant.