The Effect Of Meloxicam and Mefenamic Acid Premedication on Pain Experience In Orthodontic Patients

Background: One of the side effects of orthodontic treatment is pain this lead to discourage patients from treatment. The aim of this study to estimate and compare the effect of preoperative use of Meloxicam and Mefenamic acid drug on pain experienced after separator placement in orthodontic patients. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients aged between 17 and 26 years who claimed to undergo orthodontic treatment with fixed appliance were participate in this double-blind, prospective study. They were randomly distributed into three experimental groups, 10 for each group as follow: group A; administration of starch capsules, group B; administration of 500 mg mefenamic acid, and group C; administration of 7.5 mg meloxicam; medications were administered 1 hour before separator placement. The pain was recorded by the patients on a linear and graded Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at time intervals of 2 hours, 6 hours, nighttime on the day of appointment, 24 hours after the appointment, and 48 hours after the appointment during each of these four activities: (chewing, biting, fitting front teeth, and fitting back teeth). Result: The results of ANOVA reveal high significant differences between the three experimental groups at all time intervals and during all four activities ( P < .05 ). LSD comparisons reveal high significant differences between placebo, mefenamic acid, and meloxicam groups ( P < .05 ) the lowest pain was reported by the meloxicam group, and the highest one in placebo group. Conclusion: - The use of 7.5 mg meloxicam tab or drug as a single dose 1 hour preoperatively only is highly recommended for pain control after separator placement. -The pain begins at the moment of separator placement and reaches its peak in 24 hours and then, gradually decreases until the 48 hours.