A model for evaluating the analgesic effect of a new fixed ratio combination analgesic in patients undergoing oral surgery.

A special model designed for evaluating the analgesic effect of oral analgesics was based on a short-time registration period of immediate postoperative pain. One-hour intervals in pain registration and a minimum of 2 h between the tablet intake allowed a good estimation of changes in pain levels. The patient material consisted of 112 patients and from each patient a lower impacted wisdom tooth was removed. The test model was used to compare two analgesic drugs with placebo. The two pharmacologically active preparations were Doleron (dextropropoxyphene, acetylsalicylic acid, phenazone, caffeine and Transergan) and Astra 2167 (dextropropoxyphene and acetylsalicylic acid). The trial was double blind and the tablets were administered according to a crossover design. There was no statistically significant difference in analgesic effect between Astra 2167 and Doleron, and both drugs were superior to placebo. Finally, the trial showed that a reduction of the number of components of a compound analgesic to some degree reduced the pain relieving effect on this particular postoperative pain. This observed reduction was however, not statistically significant.