ABSTRACT
The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of duration of surgery on post-operative pain and swelling after surgical removal ofmandibular third molars
This study was planned as double blind randomized clinical trial that comprised of 60 patients experiencing unilateral mandibular third molar extraction who were recruited into two groups before surgery on the basis of bone cutting method. The study duration was three months, executed at Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dow International Dental College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. Post-operative complications [pain and swelling] were assessed pre operatively and then on 3rd and 7th day post operatively using visual analogue scale and objective scale for swelling measurement using five anatomical points on face. Surgery duration was divided into two groups, 10-20 minutes group and 20 minutes onwards
Mann Whitney test was used to assess the impact of duration on pain and swelling in both groups. In 10-20 minutes group, mean difference for pain on day one, day 3 and day 7 was calculated with p-value of 0.15, 0.641 and 0.081 respectively while in group having surgery duration of 20 minutes and more, the computed p-value were 0.002, 0.0168 and 0.02 respectively. Mean difference for swelling was calculated in both bone cutting groups with p-value of 0.0916 in 10- 20 minute group and 0.004 in 20 minute onward group
Increasing time duration was associated with more pain and swelling irrespective of the method used for bone cutting. Conventional slow speed hand piece used for bone cutting was associated with less post-operative complications