Pain has been defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.

Pain felt during minor periodontal procedures are usually unpleasant, dull, throbbing and persistent in nature.

Minor periodontal surgical procedures are invasive procedures in which smaller incisions are made with no extensive damage to the gingival tissues thereby causing lesser chances of infection with a shorter healing period.

Postoperative pain is a predictable event in most cases hence, steps should be taken to minimize the pain and discomfort that the patient experiences after minor periodontal surgical procedures.

Currently local anesthesia and analgesics have made the procedure admirably painless. Concept of using analgesics such as NSAIDs came from its mechanism of action at the site of injury and within the central nervous system. NSAIDs also have a direct analgesic effect that is distinct from their inhibition of prostaglandin formation.

The use of nonsteroidal analgesic has its advantages of adequate pain control, but it has its various disadvantages of causing adverse effects inherent to the medication. These effects include gastric irritations, multiple oral or parenteral analgesic administration, or allergic reactions to the drugs itself. Attempt from the physician’s aspect is to maximize the alleviation of pain and minimizing the adverse effects associated with the drug to look for other alternatives.

One attractive alternative is the use of a topical therapeutic system, known for its efficacy in various medical fields and offering other distinct advantages. Objective of topical analgesic therapy is to attain comparable analgesic effect with fewer adverse effects than oral analgesics. The serum concentration of the drug achieved with topical analgesics is relatively low, and thus systemic effects and drug-drug interaction is reduced. In addition, bypassing the first-pass metabolism considerably reduces the total drug dosage needed.

Ketoprofen, a hydrophilic NSAID with physiochemical property, is widely used both orally and topically for effective pain relief. Various topical formulations of ketoprofen have been studied, including the patch, gel, and solution wherein patches were seen to exhibited more control release.

Transdermal patch of ketoprofen was formulated using four formulas using polyethylene glycol 400, polyvinylpyrrolidone K-30, and ethyl cellulose as the polymer. Transdermal patches of ketoprofen have gained popularity as an effective analgesic due to advantages such as ease of topical application, reduced risk of dose dumping compared to creams, ointments, and gel forms. It also offers advantages like prolonged duration of action, self-administration capability and ease of termination thereby improving the patient’s compliance.

This study is first of its kind which will evaluate the efficacy of transdermal ketoprofen patch in post-operative pain management after minor periodontal procedures.