Post-operative pain management with meloxicam: a systematic literature review in the field of dentistry

AIM: Pain is one of the clinical problems after orofacial surgeries. There have been various studies about the analgesic effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in this group of surgeries. In recent years, meloxicam has undergone clinical trials in dentistry. The purpose of this study was to review the efficacy of meloxicam on postoperative pain in dentistry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study design was in accordance with the PRISMA guidance. The keywords according to MeSH and related articles were searched in the EBSCO, MEDLINE (via Ovid), PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. Then eligible randomized clinical trials articles, which released up to December 2017, were thoroughly reviewed. RESULTS: The nine eligible articles were studied. Meloxicam was administered with doses of 7.5, 10 and 15 mg (oral or intramuscular) before or after the third molar extraction. Meloxicam has a similar or significantly better analgesic effect than some of the selective and non-selective NSAIDs and significantly has a better analgesic effect than some of salicylic acids and tramadol. CONCLUSION: Meloxicam can be considered as an alternative analgesic agent than some NSAIDs, tramadol and salicylic acids in patients who have undergone the third molar extraction.