Assessment of analgesics in dental surgery outpatients

The usefulness of the dental outpatient model for evaluating the efficacy of mild analgesics, first described by Cooper and Beaver, is demonstrated in five separate, double-blind, randomised, single-dose, parallel-group studies. Pain intensity and pain relief were recorded at hourly intervals for 3 h following the administration of aspirin 1000 mg and placebo. In all five studies aspirin was significantly more effective than placebo, with relatively small variability of the response between the studies. The method is simple, reliable and sensitive and complements the inpatient studies of postoperative pain hitherto more frequently used.