Pain development and consumption of analgesics after oral surgery in relation to personality characteristics

Abstract

In the present study a survey has been performed of the pain development and analgesic intake in 100 patients following elective oral surgery of impacted third molars in relation to preoperative assessment of personality characteristics. Our results show that no sex differences existed preoperatively concerning personality characteristics, concerning postoperative pain development or analgesic consumption. Fourteen patients reported no pain at all and 40 patients did not use any analgesics in the postoperative period. We also found a good correlation between total sum of pain scores and analgesic intake. Patients undergoing surgery in the morning reported a lower total sum of pain scores, reported pain at fewer occasions and tended to require less analgesics than patients being subjected to surgery in the afternoon. The patients who reported a total sum of pain scores in the upper percentile during the postoperative period rated their general health worse, as rated on the General Health (GH) questionnaire, and used more analgesics than did patients in the lower percentile. Also, patients not using any analgesics reported less symptoms of distress according to the GH scale as compared to patients using analgesics. In general, however, less than 10% of the variance in postoperative pain and consumption of analgesics could be explained by the preoperative factors studied.

Psychological intervention in acute dental pain: review

“…Pain measures included VAS at one and three days postoperatively and analgesic use; while psychological measures included STAI, VAS (anxiety), General Health 17 found that personality characteristics are unrelated to postoperative pain following a study on 100 patients undergoing surgical removal of impacted third molars. Faucett et al 18 conducted a study to examine differences in severity of postoperative pain among 543 patients from four ethnic groups (Asian, Black American, European and Latino).…”

“…[16][17][18][19] Of these, three examined the predictive capacity of psychosocial factors on postoperative pain and recovery following surgical removal of third molars. One study found psychological factors, including postoperative anxiety, to predict postoperative pain.…”

“…16 Two further studies failed to show any such prediction. 17,19 This discrepancy is likely to be due in part to the differing measures taken. Only Feinmann et al 16 and Hansson et al 17 used a standard validated psychological measure (GHQ) and only the former study specifically measured anxiety.…”

“…17,19 This discrepancy is likely to be due in part to the differing measures taken. Only Feinmann et al 16 and Hansson et al 17 used a standard validated psychological measure (GHQ) and only the former study specifically measured anxiety. In Feinmann's study 16 a regression analysis, in addition to correlation, would have informed regarding the relative predictive powers of the psychological variables.…”

“…In Feinmann's study 16 a regression analysis, in addition to correlation, would have informed regarding the relative predictive powers of the psychological variables. Hansson's study 17 had the advantage of a standardised surgical procedure but, in recording on an hourly basis, may have incorporated too many measures. Gidron's study 19 failed to control for analgesic consumption.…”