Background: Managing pain remains a significant challenge. Despite best clinical practices, patients usually experience some level of pain during the procedure. After root canal treatment, postoperative pain is a common complication.
Aim: To evaluate and compare the incidence of postoperative pain in non-vital mandibular premolars treated with single sitting and two sittings root canal treatment.
There is a persistant difference of opinion among clinicians concerning whether root canal procedures should be performed in a single or numerous visits.
Materials and Methods: Sixty adult patients with non-vital mandibular premolars were randomly divided into two groups: Group A (single sitting) and Group B (two sittings). A Visual Analogue Scale was used to assess postoperative pain at various time points after therapy.
Results: Group A showed a mean postoperative pain score of 0.6 at 4 hours which reduced to 0 by 72 hours. GROUP B showed a mean pain score of 0.37 at 4 hours reducing to 0 by 48 hours. There was no significant difference in postoperative pain levels between the two groups.
Conclusion: Both single sitting and two sittings root canal treatments resulted in minimal and comparable postoperative pain in non-vital mandibular premolars.
