Efficacy of immediate postoperative intramasseteric dexamethasone injection on postoperative swelling after mandibular impacted third molar surgery: A preliminary split-mouth study.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy of immediate intramasseteric injection of dexamethasone on postoperative oedema.

METHODS

The prospective study was conducted at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey, in July 2012, and comprised patients aged 15-32 years who presented for the removal of bilateral vertical impacted mandibular third molar teeth.The right and left impacted third molars of each patient were randomly allocated into study and control groups. The impacted teeth in the study group were extracted with surgical bone removal, and 2ml of 8mg/2ml dexamethasone was injected into the ipsilateral masseter muscle immediately after suturing.In the control group, dexamethasone was replaced with 2ml of sterile saline solution. Postoperative facial oedema was measured with a tape scale by calculating the distance between several facial landmarks on postoperative day 2. SPSS 15 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The mean age of 20 patients was 21.35±4.18 years, and there were 9(45%) patients between 15-20 years of age, while 11(55%) were 21-32 years. IN terms of gender, 9(45%) patients were male and 11(55%) were female. Postoperative oedema was significantly reduced in the study group compared to the control group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Immediate intramasseteric injection of dexamethasone was effective in reducing postoperative oedema after mandibular impacted third molar surgery.