Supplemental Postoperative Bupivacaine Following Non-Surgical Endodontic Treatment

April 8, 2026 updated by: New York University

The Effects of Supplemental Postoperative 0.5% Bupivacaine With 1:200,000 Epinephrine Following Non-Surgical Endodontic Treatment on Patients' Quality of Life, Pain, and Analgesic Consumption

The study will investigate the impact of an additional injection of long-acting anesthetic on pain level, quality of life, and use of pain medication after a nonsurgical endodontic treatment. The long-acting anesthetic will be compared to a mock injection group and a group with no additional anesthetic to determine any differences in effects.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study will investigate the impact of postoperative supplemental long-acting bupivacaine on patient's pain, quality of life, and analgesic use following treatment for symptomatic irreversible pulpitis on patients with pre-operative pain levels of 5 or above (on a 0-10 analog scale). Bupivacaine will be compared to a placebo/mock injection and no injection to determine the difference in effect.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

150

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Lorel E Burns, DDS
  • Phone Number: 212-998-9332
  • Email: leb409@nyu.edu

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10010
        • Recruiting
        • New York University College of Dentistry
        • Contact:
          • Lorel E Burns, DDS, MS
          • Phone Number: 212-998-9332
          • Email: leb409@nyu.edu
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Lorel E Burns, DDS

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Medical ASA Class I or II
  2. Patients above 18 years old
  3. Patients with a blood pressure below 160/100
  4. Patients who are treatment planned and have agreed to have emergency endodontic therapy or non-surgical root canal therapy with a pulpal diagnosis of symptomatic irreversible pulpitis according to the AAE Glossary of Endodontic Terms.
  5. Patients must be able to comprehend and complete all study protocols, written consent, and questionnaires in English.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Medical ASA III or above
  2. Patients who reported the use of tobacco or nicotine-containing products such as vapes, e-cigarettes, gums, or pouches and will not in the 48 hours following treatment
  3. Patients who reported the use of any marijuana products or illicit drugs in the 48 hours prior to treatment and will not in the next 48 hours.
  4. Patients who have taken opioids to control pain.
  5. Pregnant patients
  6. Patients with a blood pressure of 160/100 or greater
  7. Patients with a known hypersensitivity or allergy to any local anesthetic agent of the amide group, or any other components of the two anesthetic solutions such as epinephrine, sodium metabisulfite used in the study.
  8. Patients who have more than one tooth with odontogenic pain at the time of the screening.
  9. Patients who are unable to consent and do not understand or are unable to read the questionnaires.
  10. Patients who have had 4 1.7 ml carpules or more of anesthetic (Lidocaine and/ or Septocaine, 1:100,000) during standard care of treatment.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Supplemental Postoperative Bupivacaine
An additional injection, 1 carpule (1.8 mL) of 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine, will be given to patients in this treatment arm, after their standard endodontic procedure is complete.
This is the intervention of interest. A supplemental injection of bupivacaine will be given postoperatively to patients who are assigned this intervention.
Placebo Comparator: Mock/Placebo Injection
If assigned to this arm, the patient will be shown the removal of a needle cap for an anesthetic syringe. The tip will be bent and placed in the patient's mouth, but no tissue penetration will occur. No solution of anesthetic will be delivered.
This intervention will appear to give patients an additional injection, but no additional drug will be given.
No Intervention: No Additional Injection
After standard endodontic procedure, no additional injection will be given.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of life (scored based on the OHIP-14 questionnaire)
Time Frame: Day of operation and daily for four days immediately following endodontic treatment

Quality of life will be measured with a modified version of the OHIP-14 questionnaire.

For each question, the answers correspond with a scale that runs from 0-4. A higher score corresponds with a lower quality of life, with 0 being great quality of life and 4 being very poor quality of life.

Day of operation and daily for four days immediately following endodontic treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Postoperative pain level
Time Frame: Day of operation and daily for four days immediately following endodontic treatment

Pain level as measured by the visual-analog scale (VAS) will be collected for four days following endodontic treatment.

The scale is from 0-10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain possible.

Day of operation and daily for four days immediately following endodontic treatment
Analgesic use
Time Frame: Day of operation and daily for four days immediately following endodontic treatment

Use of self-administered analgesics including opioids will be measured postoperatively.

The measure is binary- either usage of self-administered analgesics or no usage of self-administered analgesics.

Day of operation and daily for four days immediately following endodontic treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 21, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 21, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

October 23, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 8, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • i24-01018

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.