Pharmacologic Demonstration in Man of Increased Thresholds to Tooth Pain Following Carisoprodol and other Analgesics

Abstract

A pharmacological procedure is described which has clearly demonstrated the oral analgesic activity of carisoprodol (350 mg), acetylsalicylic acid (1200 mg), and codeine phosphate (30 mg) in man. Drugs were given with placebos in a "double-blind" investigation. Pain was induced by a high-frequency electronic stimulator applied to normal intact teeth. Since the pain threshold end-point did not require activation of skeletal muscle, carisoprodol must have induced analgesia independently of its muscle relaxant action. By this method, carisoprodol was 5 times more potent than acetylsalicylic acid in raising tooth pain threshold in man.