Pain intensity and salivary α-amylase activity in patients following mandibular third molar surgery

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to compare the levels of pain and salivary α-amylase (SAA) in patients before and after mandibular third molar surgery.

Materials and methods: Patients were divided into asymptomatic and symptomatic groups and were then identified by the analgesic drug taken throughout the 2-week study. The visual analog scale (VAS) was employed to evaluate the severity of pain experienced by a given subject before treatment, when the anesthetic wore off, in the morning, and at night for a period of 1 week. Saliva was collected from the mouth floor of the subjects and the levels of SAA activity were measured at indicated times.

Results: The levels of postoperative pain were higher than those of pretreatment pain (p < 0.05), but were not necessarily different between the two groups. The pain levels were positively correlated with SAA activities in both groups (p < 0.05). There was no difference between the number of analgesics taken by the two groups and the postoperative complications observed during the study. A significant correlation was observed between the VAS pain scale and SAA activities.

Conclusion: SAA would be a simple effective biomarker for the objective assessment of pain intensity in patients who have undergone mandibular third molar surgery.

Keywords: molar surgery; pain; saliva; α-amylase.