Evaluation of pretreatment with gelofen and novafen on pain relief after endodontic treatment; A double-blind randomized clinical trial study

Feeling pain after root canal therapy has always been a major problem for patients and dentists. One of the suggested methods to manage the pain is using the prophylactic medication before treatment process. This study aimed at investigating the comparison of pretreatment with novafen versus gelofen on reducing the pain after root canal therapy. This double-blind randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 60 patients aged 18-65 who were indicated for root canal therapy. Patients were randomly assigned to receive gelofen capsules (400mg), novafen capsules (200mg) and placebo two capsules by every patient of these groups one hour prior to sampling. Pre/post-treatment pain was measured using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before treatment and 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 hours after treatment. Both novafen and gelofen indicated significant analgesic effect during the study period (p<0.001). Pain severity within 8 hours after treatment was significantly lower in novafen group than two other groups (p=0.03). The difference between the severity of pain did not show any association to their place of life and gender in any groups. Our findings revealed that the prophylactic novafen in comparison to gelofen had a better analgesic effect in short-term and could be a good candidate for the management of post-endodontic treatment pain.