# Understanding Pain after Dental Procedures

> **NIH NIH UH3** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2022 · $518,457

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Pain is a common, and unwelcome aftermath of seeing the dentist. Indeed, pain has been deemed the fifth
vital sign and many describe it as an adverse event (AE). After the effects of the most commonly-used local
anesthetic diminishes, dental patients must rely on themselves and their own understanding for pain
management following dental procedures. This has led to an over-reliance on prescribed opioids as there are
no means to actively track patients' pain once they leave the clinic. To understand effective/appropriate pain
management, we need to examine the pain levels experienced by patients caused by which dental procedures.
Such an inventory will allow providers to anticipate and better manage their patients' post-operative pain.
 Innovative mobile applications and connected health technologies that allow real-time tracking of
patients' symptoms, functional status and quality of life, provide healthcare professionals with data that were
previously unavailable, and have fostered patient engagement, shared decision-making and adherence to
treatment plans. We propose to explore an innovative solution to dental pain monitoring and management by
implementing mobile phone technology to monitor patients' pain during the critical acute post-operative phase.
 We believe that by tracking patient reported outcomes (PROs) using mobile phones, patients with sub-
optimal pain experiences will be easily identified. This study will demonstrate that PROs provide actionable
data. This study can also serve as a model for implementing new health IT (mHealth) within dental practices to
improve patient engagement.
 This observational study will be conducted at NDPBRN (Dental Practice-based Research Network)
sites, which we believe are ideal for the development of this practical and focused post-operative pain
management study. We will recruit 50 NDPBRN practices and 4050 patients who will receive push notifications
through text messages using FollowApp.Care on their mobile phones at designated time intervals following
their dental procedure. This innovative approach of implementing an existing and tested mHealth system
technology (FollowApp.Care) into the real-world dental office setting of the NDPBRN will actively track pain
and other complications following dental procedures. By patients using their mobile phones, we expect to
promptly and precisely identify specific levels of pain for surgical dental procedures.
 During the UG3 phase of the study (Yr 1-2) we will develop all study materials in UG3-Aim1, and in
UG3-Aim 2 develop the design features and workflow for implementation of the study. During the UH3 phase
(Yr 3-6) we will in UH3-Aim1, pilot test procedures to streamline data collection and workflow in the NDPBRN
dental office. In UH3- Aim 2 we will assess post-operative pain intensity by procedure type; in UH3-Aim 3 we
will assess provider and patient post-op management strategies and in UH3-Aim 4, we will evaluate patients'
an...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10460288
- **Project number:** 5UH3DE029158-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** MUHAMMAD WALJI
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $518,457
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-21 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10460288

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10460288, Understanding Pain after Dental Procedures (5UH3DE029158-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10460288. Licensed CC0.

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