A healthy adult is undergoing an ALVEOLOPLASTY. Which post-operative analgesic regimen is MOST appropriate?

Correct answer: A. Ibuprofen 400–600 mg combined with acetaminophen 500–650 mg

• A. CORRECT. The combination of an NSAID with ACETAMINOPHEN is the evidence-based first-line regimen for acute post-surgical dental pain. The two drugs act by different mechanisms — peripheral prostaglandin inhibition plus central analgesia — so the effect is additive, and multiple systematic reviews show the combination equals or exceeds opioid-containing combinations while avoiding sedation, nausea, constipation and dependence risk. Both the ADA and the FDA now endorse this as the preferred approach.
• B. The same objection applies with greater force to oxycodone. Opioids are reserved for severe pain that has not responded to maximal non-opioid therapy, or for patients in whom NSAIDs are contraindicated.
• C. An opioid combination is not first-line for a routine alveoloplasty in a healthy adult, and carries sedation, nausea and dependence risks that the non-opioid combination avoids.
• D. Acetaminophen 250 mg is a SUBTHERAPEUTIC dose for an adult; 500–1000 mg per dose is required for meaningful analgesia, and it lacks the anti-inflammatory action that surgical bone pain needs.

Note: Where an NSAID is contraindicated — active peptic ulcer disease, significant renal impairment, anticoagulation, third-trimester pregnancy — acetaminophen alone at an adequate dose becomes the base, with an opioid added only if genuinely necessary. That duplicate was removed — this alveoloplasty version is the retained item. The concept is identical: ibuprofen + acetaminophen in combination is first-line for moderate post-surgical dental pain, ahead of any opioid.