Comparison of Pain, Wound Healing, Facial Edema, and Surgeon’s Comfort in Surgical Extraction of Impacted Third Molars: Surgical Scalpel Versus Radiofrequency Incision

This study aimed to compare the level of pain, wound healing, facial edema, and surgeon’s comfort in surgical extraction of impacted third molars using surgical scalpel versus radiofrequency (RF) incision.

This split-mouth clinical trial evaluated 41 patients with bilateral impacted third molars in one jaw with the same Pederson difficulty index (between 5 and 7, moderate difficulty). The surgical incision was made using a surgical scalpel on one random side and an RF device on the contralateral side. The level of pain was measured using a numerical rating scale (NRS) 7 days postoperatively. The wound healing was evaluated using the wound evaluation scale (WES) 4 weeks postoperatively. Facial edema was quantified using a tape measure 7 days postoperatively. Surgeon’s comfort was assessed by asking the surgeons regarding the level of easiness of the procedure. The pain score, wound healing score, facial edema, and surgeon’s comfort in surgical extraction of impacted third molars were compared between the two sides using SPSS 22 via paired t-test and McNemar’s test.  

The surgeon’s comfort was significantly higher in the use of a surgical scalpel (P<0.001). The difference in pain score (P=0.95), wound healing (P=0.32), and facial edema (P>0.05) was not significant between the two groups.

The results of this study showed no significant difference in surgical extraction of impacted third molars using a surgical scalpel or an RF device regarding the level of pain, wound healing, or facial edema.