Comparison of postoperative pain: piezoelectric device versus microdrill

Piezosurgery^® is a recently developed system for cutting bone with microvibrations. The objective of this study was to compare the severity of pain over the first 10 postoperative days in a group of 70 patients who underwent intact canal wall mastoidectomy, with the piezoelectric device, and to compare the results with traditional method by means of microdrill (70 patients). The subjective perception of pain was evaluated on a scale from 0 to 10, such that 0 represented no pain and 10 represented maximum pain; the severity was recorded as null when the score was 0; slight, when it was 1–4; moderate, when it was 5–7; or severe, when it was 8–10. Compared with microdrill, the patients that underwent surgery with the piezoelectric device showed a significant (P < 0.05) lower postoperative pain on day 1 (52 vs. 26 patients presented a slight pain, 12 vs. 37 presented a moderate pain, and 6 vs. 7 presented a severe pain) and day 3 (68 vs. 44 patients presented a slight pain, 2 vs. 23 presented a moderate pain, and 0 vs. 3 presented a severe pain). These results highlight as the piezoelectric device is a safe and minimally invasive tool.