An investigation into post-operative pain after third molar surgery under local analgesia.

The pain experienced after third molar surgery was investigated over a 7 day post-operative period in 80 patients. The results from the study suggest that post-operative pain is of short duration and reaches its maximum intensity in the early post-operative period. Nearly all patients required an analgesic at some time during the 7 days. The sex of the patient and whether there is a previous history of pericoronitis are important determinants of post-operative pain. However, the magnitude of post-operative pain does not appear to be dependent upon the operator or related to the extent of surgical trauma as assessed by operating time and radiographic score.