Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Aim: To compare the levels of postoperative pain after cleaning and shaping of root canals using two different root canal irrigants for debridement. Materials and methods: Sixty patients with irreversible pulpitis, pulp necrosis and non-vital teeth exhibiting acute apical periodontitis requiring root canal treatment were included. At random, canals were cleaned and shaped with the following protocols. 2% chlorhexidine solution in group I and 5.25% sodium hypochlorite solution in group II were used as an irrigants. Access cavities were closed with a sterile cotton pellet and cavit. The patients recorded degree of pain at various time intervals after cleaning and shaping on a visual analogue scale for 1 week. Results: The overall mean age was 28.97±4.5 years. There were 32 (53.3%) males and 28 (46.6%) females. The mean value of pain score determined post operatively was 1.70±1.8 in Group-I and 1.90 ± 2.4 in Group-II (p=0.5). At 72 hours, only 5(16.7%) patients reported pain, while 25(83.3%) patients had no pain. In Group-II, 10(33.3%) patients had pain at 72 hours while 20(66.7%) patients had no pain (p=0.13) /. In terms of age and gender, there was no significant difference between the two irrigants. Conclusions: there was no significant difference in pain level between the two groups.