ABSTRACT
Surgeries performed in retained third molars occur in the contaminated field, bringing post-operative problems such as pain, bleeding, discomfort, swelling, infection, trismus, and inactive days. This study evaluated the differences between conventional medication and topical doxycycline in third molar surgery. Twenty-eight patients were selected requiring removal of four third molar. Half of the mouth was randomly selected to undergo surgery with the use of conventional medication (analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial) and after 25-30 days, the other half of the mouth was subjected to surgery using doxycycline delivered through gel nanotubes. The results showed that in both treatments there was no clinical infection. The other evaluations were significantly lower in relation to pain, bleeding, edema, inactive days, trismus, and discomfort when compared with conventional therapy.