Eficacia analgésica de diclofenaco versus metilprednisolona en el control del dolor postoperatorio tras la cirugía del tercer molar inferior

objetive: to compare the analgesic efficacy of methylprednisolone (corticoid) versus diclofenac (nonsteroidal antiinflammatory-nsaid-) after surgical removal of lower third molars. study design: prospective study on 73 patients for the surgical removal of their lower third molars. these patients were separated in two groups at random: a diclofenac group and a methylprednisolone group. a record card was filled in with preoperative and postoperative epidemiological and clinic data. the pain level assessment was made on a semiquantitative and an analogical visual scales and in relation to the amount of rescue analgesics consumed. pain levels were measured at 1, 8, 24, 48 and 72 hours. in order to make a broad study of data, bmdp program was used for statistics. results: in the pain described by patients in the analogical visual scale there were no differences between groups as a whole. there were no differences in the amount of rescue analgesics consumed. conclusions. there is less pain in the corticoid group but not as to justify its routine use.