title: Comparison of three pain scales after impacted third molar surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recently, a pain assessment scale called "full cup test" (FCT) has been suggested for pain evaluation. It is claimed to be easier to use for the patient, and it allows using parametric tests for statistical analyses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of the FCT in third molar surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  The FCT was compared with 2 well accepted pain scales. Forty-eight patients who had fully impacted lower third molars were included. All patients were asked to fill 3 pain scales--visual analog scale (VAS), verbal rating scale (VRS), and FCT--daily during the first postoperative week. Then the scales were collected and data statistically analyzed. Agreement among VAS, VRS, and FCT was evaluated using the Spearman rank coefficient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Correlations among 3 scales were very high and significant (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FCT can be used to assess the postoperative pain after third molar surgery.
authors: Faculty of Dentistry, Baskent University, Konya, Turkey. kubilay@kubilay.org
authors: Kubilay
authors: K
authors: Isik
authors: Alkim
authors: A
authors: Unsal
authors: Abdullah
authors: A
authors: Kalayci
authors: Ercan
authors: E
authors: Durmus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000601:surgery; D008964:Molar, Third / Q000601:surgery*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014081:Tooth Extraction; D014095:Tooth, Impacted / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult