Evaluation of predisposing factors for dry socket following extraction of maxillary and mandibular molars: incidence, significance level of variables and comparison of two jaws

Dry socket is one of the most common post-tooth-extraction complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between some of the predisposing factors of dry socket and this complication in all maxillary and mandibular molars and evaluation of its incidence. Furthermore, the two jaws were compared.

In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 150 patients were examined in 2020 in the city of Zahedan. A questionnaire consisting of two sections was designed: In the first section age, gender, systemic disease, smoking status, contraceptive pill consumption, and antibiotic consumption were investigated. In the second section, data related to the difficulty of surgery based on the duration of surgery and the number of local anesthetic cartridges that were administered were collected. Then, the collected data were analyzed by Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

The incidence of dry socket was 25.3%. The frequency of dry socket was significantly relevant to smoking, oral contraceptive consumption, difficulty of the surgery, and the number of local anesthetic cartridges that were administered (P≤0.05). Age, gender, controlled systemic disorder, and systemic antibiotic usage for two weeks prior to surgery revealed no significant associations with dry socket (P>0.05). Furthermore, the frequency of dry socket in maxillary and mandibular jaws had a significant difference according to smoking status, difficulty of surgery, and number of local anesthetics carpules (P≤0.05).

It is recommended to identify high-risk groups when performing extraction to consider pre-operative and post-operative measures in order to reduce postoperative complications.