Parenteral aspirin for pain relief in day-case dental anaesthesia. A randomised double blind placebo controlled trial.

Forty patients undergoing day-case anaesthesia for surgical extraction of third molar teeth received either lysine acetylsalicylate 1.8 g in 10 ml of saline intravenously or a placebo injection of 10 ml of saline intravenously just prior to induction of anaesthesia. Lysine acetylsalicylate was associated with a significantly more satisfactory postoperative recovery overall. However, there was no significant difference in mean pain scores between the two treatment groups at 1, 6, 12 or 24 hours following administration. Both treatment groups self administered additional oral analgesics to the same extent during the first 24 hours following surgery.