Evaluation of intra-alveolar chlorhexidine dressings after removal of impacted mandibular third molars.

Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) has been investigated for its possible benefit in the prevention of alveolar osteitis complicating third molar removal. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study, 70 randomly selected healthy patients were subjected to uncomplicated mandibular third molar removal followed by CHX-gelatin sponge and saline solution-gelatin sponge intra-alveolar dressings. Each patient was followed for 6 days for postoperative discomfort and complications, and scored accordingly. The results demonstrated that patients receiving 0.2% CHX intra-alveolar dressings exhibited a significant reduction in postoperative discomfort and complications when compared with saline solution-treated control sites (p less than 0.005). Further, this phenomenon was not found to be related to patient factors including age, sex, and race, nor did any correlation exist between treated or control sites, and surgical factors including performing surgeon, surgeon's dominant hand, time of surgery, surgical site, and difficulty of the removal. These findings warrant further studies concerning the apparent clinical benefit of postextraction intra-alveolar CHX dressings for the reduction of postoperative alveolar osteitis.