Study Results Show How Dental Pain Eases in the Week After Treatment
How quickly does pain improve after common dental procedures, and which procedures have the greatest effect on eating, speaking, sleep, and daily activities? A newly published paper from the Postoperative Pain Study (POPS) answers these questions with evidence from 2,674 patients, giving you new data on pain, recovery, and medication use to help inform your postoperative counseling and pain-management planning.
Capturing the Patient Experience Beyond the Dental Chair
POPS is a prospective, multi-site study conducted across National Dental PBRN practices, and this publication marks the first major report of its primary findings. Researchers enrolled 2,674 adult patients from Network practices who reported on their pain, daily functioning, and medication use during the week following endodontic procedures, periodontal surgeries, oral surgeries, implant procedures, and visits involving multiple procedures.
Rather than relying only on information gathered during office visits, the study used a mobile health (mHealth) platform to collect patient-reported outcomes throughout recovery. This approach let researchers track how pain and daily functioning changed day by day, not just at a single follow-up visit.