Efficacy of Calcium Hydroxide versus Chlorhexidine in Reducing Endodontic Post Operative Pain: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Postoperative pain is one of the primary problems in endodontic treatment. Chlorhexidine (CHX) and calcium hydroxide (CH) are the major two intracanal medications used in apical periodontitis. Objective: to compare through a systematic review of the literature, the efficacy of calcium hydroxide versus chlorhexidine used as intracanal medicaments in the management of postoprerative pain in permanent teeth with apical periodontitis. Material and methods: The working group included 4 reviewers. The research was conducted in November; 2018 on Medline (PubMed), and the Cochrane Library databases. using the following keywords: periapical periodontitis, calcium hydroxide and, chlorhexidine. After selection of articles, data were extracted and analyzed. Results: Fourty two articles were retrieved from databases and one article from hand-searching. Four articles were considered as relevant. The selected items found some clinical evidence that Even though calcium hydroxide is one of the most widely used intra-canal medicament due to its anti-microbial properties, it is not very effective in reducing post-treatment pain when it is used alone, but its effectiveness can be increased when used in combination with other medicaments like chlorhexidine and camphorated monochlorophenol (CMCP). Conclusion: Chlorhexidine (2 %) has a superior effect on pain relief than calcium hydroxide.