Comparison of two different suture knot techniques on postoperative morbidity after impacted mandibular third molar surgery.

INTRODUCTION

In third molar surgery, one of the most important factors is how the wound was closed. Tight suturing of the wound commonly gives more discomfort to the many patients in terms of postoperative pain, swelling and trismus. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of two different knot techniques in suturing after extraction of impacted mandibular third molars (IMTM) on quality of life and postoperative complications such as pain, swelling and trismus.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study was conducted with a randomized and split-mouth design and included 50 patients over the age of 18 in the ASA I group who had bilateral horizontal impacted mandibular third molars. In all patients, the wounds were closed by simple sutures by applying two different knot techniques as locked (GroupL, n=50) and unlocked (Group UL, n=50) knots. In the postoperative period, pain, swelling, trismus, chewing activity and quality of life were examined.

RESULTS

In the group where the unlocked knotting technique was used, significantly better results were obtained in comparison to the group where the locked knotting technique was used for all values (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

In preventing postoperative complications that are observed after impacted mandibular third molar surgery and affect the quality of life of patients negatively, suturing of the wound by the method of unlocked knotting is a useful technique that may be preferred.