Comparison of Effects of Local and Intravenous Dexamethasone on Edema and Trismus Following Impacted Mandibular Third Molars Surgery

Post-operative edema and trismus are common following removal of impacted teeth. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of local and intravenous (IV) dexamethasone on the edema and trismus following hard tissue impacted mandibular third molar teeth surgery. In this clinical trial, 20 patients were randomly selected and allocated into two treatment groups. S urgical removal of bilateral impacted madibular third molars under local anesthesia were performed. Group A received 8mg IV dexamethasone and group B received 4mg local infilterated dexamethasone for each side. Edema was measured using both tape measure and sonography methods. In regards to trismus, interincisal mouth-opening was measured using a calibrated caliper pre-operatively and post-operatively. Data were statistically analyzed using Mann-Wittney and Wilcoxon tests. Both sonography and tape measure (method A) methods showed that the local dexamethasone was significantly more effective than IV dexamethasone in reduction of post-operative edema (p=0.012). Meanwhile, the difference of effectiveness between local and IV dexamethasone on the trismus was not statistically significant. The results indicated that the use of local dexamethasone is an effective therapeutical strategy in reduction of post-operative edema of mandibular third molar teeth surgery.