ABSTRACT
Introduction: Surgical removal of the impacted mandibularthird molar is one of the most frequently performed surgicalprocedures in oral and maxillofacial surgery. The purpose ofthis study was to compare the primary and secondary woundclosure after surgical removal of impacted mandibular thirdmolars by evaluating the extent of facial swelling, the severityof pain and degree of trismus.Material and Methods: A prospective, randomized,clinical trial was conducted in 80 patients. The patients wererandomly divided into two groups of 40 each. In Group 1:patients underwent primary closure of the wound and inGroup 2: patients underwent secondary closure of the wound.Postoperative pain, swelling, and trismus were evaluated onthe 2nd and 7th day postoperatively.Results: Statistically significant difference was observed forfacial swelling and trismus on 2nd postoperative days betweenboth groups. Postoperative pain was less in the secondaryclosure group.Conclusion: From the outcome of the above study we canconclude that the secondary wound closure technique has asignificant advantage over primary wound closure concerningswelling and trismus.