Tenoxicam controls pain without present preemptive effect or interfere on canine teeth orthodontic movement

Pain control is need in orthodontics because the tooth movements caused by specific forces lead to an inflammatory reaction in the periodontium and a consequent painful sensation. Controlling the inflammatory process may change the orthodontic movement through diminishing the blood irrigation of the periodontium. This doubleblind randomized prospective study investigated the effect of preemptive analgesia using tenoxicam and its influence on upper canine orthodontic movement. Thirty-six patients who underwent bilateral orthodontic retraction of the upper canines were evaluated. Each side was treated on three different occasions, thus totaling 216 retraction activations, which were implemented with alternation between the sides. The patients were themselves the controls. The retractions were divided into three groups of 24 patients each. In group A, the retraction was implemented with tenoxicam administered orally to control the pain intensity, fourty five minutes before the procedure, placebo was then administered immediately after the procedure. In group B, placebo was administered 45 minutes before the procedure and tenoxicam immediately afterwards. In group C, placebo was administered both before and after the procedure. These procedures were repeated at 15-day intervals, thus totaling 90 days of treatment per patient. The patients were allowed to use dipyrone as rescue medication whenever necessary. Questionnaires containing a visual analog scale, a descriptive pain scale and a table for monitoring the rescue medication intake were supplied to the patients after each procedure. The movements were implemented using the Roth technique (straight arch), with forces standardized using a dynamometer and nickel-titanium springs. The amount of movement was evaluated by means of linear measurements using a pachymeter. The tenoxicam did not influence the teeth movement, since the obtained results shown that the amounts of movement did not differ statistically between the three groups. The patients medicated with tenoxicam achieved better pain control than did the patients in the control group, but no preemptive effect was shown in this pain model. The results allow to conclusion that the tenoxicam did not show any influence on the orthodontic movement of canine retraction and it provided good pain control over the course of the activations