If you've ever had a root canal, you know the throbbing pain that can follow is most intense right after the procedure. A new analysis looked at which pain reliever might give you the best head start on relief. It pooled results from several smaller studies and found that a medication called ketorolac showed a clear advantage over other common painkillers specifically in the first 6 hours after it was given. People who took ketorolac were also less likely to need a second, 'rescue' dose of pain medication.
The analysis involved patients who had just undergone root canal therapy, though the exact number of people and their specific characteristics weren't detailed. The review didn't report on side effects or safety, so we don't know how ketorolac compared on that front.
It's important to keep a few things in mind. The benefit was only seen at the 6-hour mark; by 12 and 24 hours, ketorolac didn't perform significantly better than the alternatives. Also, while most of the individual studies in the review favored ketorolac, one actually found it to be less effective, and another found similar results. This means the overall picture, while promising for early relief, isn't perfectly clear-cut. The analysis can't tell us exactly how much better it is or for which specific patients it might be the best choice.