The Effects of Piezosurgery and Submucosal Dexamethasone Injection on Post-operative Complications after Third Molar Surgery.

BACKGROUND: A retrospective clinical study was performed to compare the postoperative effects of the conventional surgery, piezo surgery technique and submucosal dexamethasone injection in lower third molar extractions.

METHODS: Data from 62 patients, subjected to surgical extraction of lower third molars, were pooled and divided into three groups such as: Conventional Group (22 patients), Piezo Group (20 patients) and Dex Group (conventional surgery + 4 mg/1 ml dexamethasone) (20 patients). Pain, swelling, trismus, analgesic consumption and operation time were comparatively evaluated.

RESULTS: Pain values were found lower in Dex Group in comparison to Conventional Group at 7th day (p = 0.007). Edema found to be higher in Conventional Group than Dex Group at 2nd day (p = 0.025). Minimally trismus values were found in Dex Group and the difference between the Dex and Conventional Group found to be statistically significant both in 2nd (p = 0.048) and 7th days (p = 0.010). The analgesic consumption in the Conventional Group was found to be higher than Piezo Group at 2nd day (p = 0.002).

CONCLUSION: The better postoperative values were obtained in the Dex Group. Although longer operative time is considered to be a disadvantage for the piezo technique, piezotome may be preferred for surgical procedures due to it's positive results in comparison to the conventional technique.