Postoperative Pain in Endodontically Treated Teeth: A Cross-sectional Study of Retrospective Data

This study aimed to assess the occurrence of postoperative pain and associated factors in patients treated endodontically at a Postgraduate Center in Endodontics in Southern Brazil.

The evaluation was performed using the medical records of 658 patients. Pulp conditions, postoperative pain, pain intensity, edema, number of sessions (single or multiple), and medication administration in the postoperative period were analyzed. For data analysis, descriptive analyses and univariate and multiple regressions were performed. In the multiple analyses, odds ratios (OR) and their respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated, crude and adjusted for exposure variables in a binary logistic regression model (p-value < 0.05).

To perform the adjusted logistic regression, all variables associated with p-value <0.10: gender, edema, and pulp condition (bio- and necropulpectomy) entered the crude model. After the multivariate analysis, a statistically significant association was found between the outcome variable of the presence of postoperative pain and the independent variable of pulp condition, and the presence of pain was associated with patients who underwent endodontics on teeth with live pulp and edema with greater chances of postoperative pain.

It was concluded that the pulp condition and edema affected postoperative pain.

The occurrence of postoperative pain was around 30% in both single and multiple sessions, and it was considered relevant for the dental clinic. Pulp condition affected postoperative pain, and the presence of pain was associated with patients who underwent endodontics on teeth with live pulp.