Comparison of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Scalpel and Electrosurgical Techniques in the Intraoral Incisions in Orthognathic Surgeries

With the advancement of the instruments for oral surgeries, use of alternative methods instead of traditional scalpels has been evaluated, The present study aimed to compare the complications associated with electrosurgery techniques and use of scalpel during and after orthognathic surgery.
In this split-mouth designed study, 20 patient who were candidate for orthognathic surgery were enrolled. Symmetrical incisions were made using electrosurgical methods on one side of the jaw and routine techniques with a scalpel number 15 on the other side. Evaluation of the techniques was performed during the surgery and six weeks postoperatively based on specific parameters, including the cutting time, and rate of scar tissue formation. Finally, the collected data from the implications of the two methods were compared using Man-Whitney U- test.
Mean cutting time was 6.63±1.22 and 10.19±1.95 minutes in the electrical cautery and scalpel groups, respectively, which denoted a significant difference between the groups (P According to the results, cautery could lead to a more significant reduction in the cutting time compared to use of scalpel. Furthermore, the scar tissue produced in the electrocautery technique was significantly higher compared to scalpel, which could be due to the induced heat damage to the adjacent tissues.