Cryotherapy and Post-Treatment Endodontic Pain

Abstract

Introduction: The management and approach of dealing with pain after endodontic treatment is one of the most important fields of endodontics, which has received special attention in recent years. The effect of cryotherapy can be achieved by reducing blood flow and metabolic activity by suppressing neurotransmitters and increasing oxygenation in the damaged tissue. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of randomized clinical trials between 2023 and 2024 regarding the effect of cryotherapy in reducing pain after endodontic treatment.

Materials and Methods: This research is prepared and presented based on PRISMA reporting items. The databases used for this research are PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar.  Gray texts were also done by searching the sources of found articles. The time limitation for the search strategy was set for 2023 and 2024. Inclusion criteria were based on the PICOTS definition. To assess the risk of bias, the ROB2 tool was used.

Results: Based on the search results in databases, 138 articles were found in 2023 and 2024. Finally, 19 studies were included in this review. Finally, five articles had a mild risk of bias, and six studies had a moderate risk of bias. Other studies were also unbiased based on the evaluation. Finally, we included them all in the review study. For each of the studies included in this review, the name of the first author, age of the participants, sample size, population under study, groups under study, outcome, findings and final interpretation were extracted. The tool used to measure pain in 3 articles was the NRS scale; one used VRS, and other studies used VAS. The range of age groups used in all studies was from a minimum 4 of  four to a maximum of 60 years. The sample size was in the range of 20 to 152.

Conclusion: It was concluded that cryotherapy can be used as a pain relief method after dental surgery. However, this evidence was accompanied by limitations for the included studies.