Pentazocine and Aspirin for Pain Following Oral Surgery

In a double‐blind clinical study, a comparison was made of pentazocine, aspirin and placebos, in varying dosage levels, following oral surgery. These were administered orally to 378 patients during the first 24 hours following surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars. The patients were divided into eight groups which were found to be homogeneous with respect to age, sex, weight and eruptive state of the tooth involved. They were given pentazocine at four dose levels and aspirin and placebos at three dose levels. In all 60 patients had no pain during the 24 hours following surgery. There were no significant differences in between the results among the eight patient groups, with regard to which drug they had received. The majority of patients slept well. However, patients who received aspirin slept significantly better than those receiving pentazocine or placebos. Of 136 patients reporting side effects, there were significantly more complaints from the patients taking pentazocine than from those treated with aspirin or placebos.