A. Topic:The topic chosen for this research is Pain control in recovering alcoholics and the effects of local anesthesia. The study that has been chosen also explains how psychological factors like depression affected alcoholics and what role it played in this observation.
B. Purpose or problem:The medical literature suggests that alcoholics may present greater challenges to achieving clinical pain control than nonalcoholics. This study was undertaken to test the hypotheses that: (1) significant differences exist between alcoholics and nonalcoholics on detection and pain thresholds during electric tooth stimulation; (2) group differences exist in the depth and time course of pulpal anesthesia; and (3) responses to tooth stimulation are associated with severity of alcoholism and/or other psychological factors.
C. Research questions:Twenty-two recovering alcoholics, with a mean length of sobriety of 113 days, were not significantly different from a population of 22 nonalcoholics in their sensitivity to the pain-controlling effects of the local anesthesia mepivicaine, according to a dental study at the University of Washington. Prior pain management research in clinical settings suggested that alcoholics were less responsive to anesthesia and pain-controlling drugs than nonalcoholics. The study also found that psychological factors such as depression did affect alcoholics' level of response to local anesthesia.
1. Identify assumptions:Alcoholism was defined based upon DSM-III-R criteria used by the treatment program. Additional adult male nonalcoholics (n = 22) were recruited from the employee population at the University of Washington Medical Center.
2. Identify the operational definitions:The medical literature suggests that a history of alcohol or nonalcohol drug abuse may predispose patients to achieve less effect from pharmacological methods for general anesthetics/pain control. In dentistry, lack of adequate pain control may lead to fear and long-term avoidance of care, and deterioration of oral health......................
