Aim: Study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of two different pretreatment single oral doses of betamethasone on the incidence of inter-appointment flare up and postoperative discomfort.
Materials and methods: Fifty-four patients aged 18-59 years requiring endodontic treatment were selected and randomly assigned to three groups; single pretreatment oral dose of placebo or betamethasone in two different oral doses of 0.5 mg and 1 mg, respectively. Endodontic therapy was completed in two visits using triple antibiotic paste as intracanal medicament. Patients were given a questionnaire to record their pain at 1, 2, 3, and 7 days after treatment. In the second visit, obturation was done, and the patients were again instructed to record their pain scores after treatment and discharged. The verbal rating scale was used for recording the pain scores. Statistical analysis was done using ANOVA and the Friedman test.
Results: 0.5 mg betamethasone group showed least mean pain scores among all experimental groups; however, there was no statistically significant difference between any of the groups (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Pretreatment single oral dose of betamethasone is an effective in managing endodontic flare-ups; however, the results were statistically insignificant.
Keywords: Betamethasone; flare up; placebos; root canal therapy.