Effects of Drug Administration on Postoperative Pain in Orthognathic Surgery: A Systematic Review

Objectives

This systematic review aims to offer indications on how drug administration affects postoperative pain in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery.

Material and Methods

We searched Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles pertaining to our research topic. The search strategy was created by combining terms associated with our review's goal, which is to ascertain whether drugs used before, during, and after surgery help lessen postoperative pain. The keywords used were "orthodontic surgery AND postoperative pain." Inclusion criteria used to select articles were human subjects only, open-access studies, clinical and randomized controlled trials, English language, and studies published no more than 10 years before the current edition. Exclusion conditions such as eta-analyses, systematic reviews, off-topics, abstracts, posters, and public trials were excluded.

Results

Thirteen randomized control trials and one comparative study comprised the design of the chosen research. The studies show that administering a certain drug in comparison to another can lessen the severity of postoperative sequelae.

Conclusions

A multimodal approach is needed to alleviate post-discomfort after orthognathic surgery. Medication given before surgery can lessen discomfort and the need for opioids. Pain intensity can be decreased, and early opioid tolerance can be avoided with intraoperative treatments. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and iontophoresis-based transdermal medication administration are other alternatives.