COMPARISON OF POSTOPERATIVE PAIN — NORMAL SALINE Vs SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE AS IRRIGANTS

The objective of this comparative analytical study was to compare postoperative pain after use of normal saline and sodium hypochlorite as irrigants. This study was carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry (AFID), Rawalpindi (Pakistan) from April 2003 to August 2004. Total one hundred patients satisfying the inclusion criteria were selected who cooperated for complete follow up. Presence of pain and its threshold was checked before and after the root canal therapy using normal saline in one group and 2.6% sodium hypochlorite in the other group. The overall postoperative pain was less when only normal saline was used as root canal irrigant as compared with 2.6%s odium hypochlorite for single visit root canal therapy.