Effect of dexamethasone on postoperative swelling in patients undergoing impacted molar surgery

Abstract

Background: The present study was undertaken for comparing the therapeutic effects of Dexamethasone administered intramuscularly pre-operatively vs. post operatively after the surgical extraction of impacted mandibular third molars. Materials and methods: A total of 40 participants were enrolled. Complete demographic and clinical details of all the patients were obtained. Clinical examination was carried out of all the subjects. Only those patients were enrolled which were scheduled to undergo impacted third molar extraction. All the subjects were randomly divided into two study groups with 20 participants in each group as follows: Group A: Administration of intramuscular Dexamethasone pre-operatively. Group B: Administration of intramuscular Dexamethasone post-operatively. All the surgical procedures were carried under the hands of skilled and experienced oral surgeons. Routine post-operative home care instruction was given to all the patients along with antibiotic coverage. Patients were recalled on the 7th day and sutures were removed. Clinical examination was done. Data was analyzed by using SPSS software. Results: Mean swelling among patients of group A at immediate postoperative period, postoperative 1st day, postoperative 3rd day and postoperative 7th day was 13.1 cm, 12.5 cm, 12.9 cm and 11.5 cm respectively. Mean swelling among patients of group B at immediate postoperative period, postoperative 1st day, postoperative 3rd day and postoperative 7th day was 13.5 cm, 14.8 cm, 15.1 cm and 11.3 cm respectively. Statistically significant difference was obtained while comparing the mean postoperative swelling among patients of group A and group B. Conclusion: Better post-operative therapeutic effects are achieved by pre-operative administration of intramuscular injection of dexamethasone as compared to post-surgical administration in impacted third molar surgeries.