Effect of Preoperative Single Dose Dexamethasone Injection in Masseter Muscle on Postoperative Sequelae Following Lower Impacted Third Molar Surgery

The surgical removal of impacted lower third molars involves trauma to soft and bony tissue and can result in pain, swelling and trismus. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of dexamethasone, as a single 4 mg dose injected into the masseter muscle prior to extraction of impacted lower third molars on theses postoperative sequelae.

This prospective, randomized clinical research consisted of 43 healthy patients. The study group received 4 mg dexamethasone into the masseter muscle via intrabuccal approach immediately before starting the procedure while the control group received no corticoid. 7 days after surgery.Data were analyzed using t-test (α = 0.05)

The patients administered dexamethasone showed superior results after surgery in terms of oral aperture, pain and all the facial swelling parameters, with statistically significant differences versus the controls (p value<0.001). Also there was statistically significant difference in terms of patients trismus between case and control groups (p value<0.001).

The results obtained showed that 4 mg of dexamethasone injected into the masseter muscle in the immediately before starting the procedure significantly reduces swelling, trismus and pain