In stage II and III periodontitis patients undergoing scaling and root planing, pain perception is significantly related to analgesic use and anxiety levels.

Researchers conducted a prospective study to evaluate how pain perception and analgesic consumption change following scaling and root planing (SRP) in periodontitis-affected individuals.

Prior to initiating the SRP, measurement of various periodontal parameters including clinical attachment level (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP), and probing depth (PD) was done. Additionally, an assessment of subjects' anxiety levels was carried out utilizing the modified dental anxiety scale (MDAS) questionnaire. After the SRP was performed, the patient's pain perception was recorded using the visual analog scale (VAS) at multiple time points: two hours, four hours, eight hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours following periodontal treatment.

For pain intensity assessment using VAS, the following cutoff points were employed: 0 = no pain, 1–4 = mild pain, 4–6 = moderate pain, and 7–10 = severe pain. In cases of intolerable pain, the volunteers were instructed to take analgesics. The link between all dependent variables and patients' pain perception was examined using multivariate logistic regression. To evaluate pain perception at varied time intervals, a non-parametric Friedman test was carried out.

The study involved 52 participants, comprising 20 females and 32 males, with a mean age of 43.10 ± 12.33 years. The results of multivariate analyses indicated a significant association between pain perception and both MDAS scores and analgesic consumption. However, other clinical variables showed no significant connection with pain perception. The Friedman test demonstrated a significant correlation between pain perception and time.

The perception of pain following SRP treatment is considerably linked to both analgesic consumption and anxiety levels.