• Cássia Maria Grillo, Ronaldo Seichi Wada, and Maria da Luz Rosário de Sousa.
• Department of Social Dentistry, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
• J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2014 Apr 1;7(2):65-70.

AbstractAcute dental pain is the main reason for seeking dental services to provide urgent dental care; there is consensus about the use of alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, to control dental pain in pre-dental care. This study aimed to evaluate the use of acupuncture in reducing the intensity of acute dental pain in pre-dental care in patients waiting for emergency dental care, and was conducted at the After-Hours Emergency Dental Clinic of Piracicaba Dental School, and at the Emergency Center Dental Specialties I in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The sample consisted of 120 patients. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to measure pain intensity. All patients underwent one session of acupuncture; the points LI4, ST44 and CV23 were selected and were used alone or in combinations. Reduction in pain was observed in 120 patients (mean initial VAS=6.558±1.886, p<0; mean final VAS=0.962±2.163, p<0.00001). The results of this study indicate that acupuncture analgesia could be a technical adjunct to pain control in patients with acute dental pain, contributing to the restoration of health with social benefit.Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

21 keywords...

hide…