Piezoelectric Surgery Versus Conventional Osteotomy in Impacted Lower Third Molar Extraction: Evaluation of Perioperative Anxiety, Pain, and Paresthesia.

PURPOSE: Piezoelectric surgery is a safe and effective osteotomy technique that can decrease the perioperative complications and morbidity in oral-maxillofacial surgery. In this study, we compared piezoelectric surgery and a conventional rotatory technique in the removal of impacted lower third molars. Our primary endpoints were perioperative anxiety, pain, and postoperative discomfort while avoiding the drilling sound of the conventional instrument. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study included 21 patients (14 female and 7 male patients) with bilateral, symmetrical impacted lower third molars. The 2 osteotomy techniques were randomly allocated to be performed on the right or left impacted lower third molars. The parameters evaluated were perioperative anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory), postoperative pain (visual analog scale), operation time, and paresthesia. RESULTS: No significant difference was seen between piezoelectric surgery and conventional rotatory techniques in terms of pain, anxiety, and nerve damage. Preoperative anxiety was significantly higher in the female group than in the male group. No correlation was found between preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain. The operation time was significantly longer in the piezoelectric surgery group. CONCLUSIONS: Piezoelectric surgery provides a precise, less aggressive osteotomy compared with conventional rotatory techniques. However, it has not been found to significantly reduce perioperative pain and anxiety.

Effects of different suture materials on tissue healing.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the healing differences in between four different widely used suture materials in the oral surgery practice, including silk (Perma- Hand; Ethicon, INC., Somerville, NJ, USA), polypropylene (Prolene; Ethicon, INC., Somerville, NJ, USA), coated polyglactin 910 (Ethicon, INC., Somerville, NJ, USA). and polyglecaprone 25 (Ethicon, INC., Somerville, NJ, USA ). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 20 male rats were randomly allocated into two groups depending on their sacrification days (post-operative 1st and the 7th days). Four longitudinal incision wounds, each 1cm in size, were created on the dorsum of each animal which were then primarily closed with four different types of sutures. RESULTS: The effects of these suture materials on soft tissue healing were compared histopathologically, by means of density of the cells, necrosis, fibrosis, foreign body reaction, the presence of cells of acute and chronic infection. No statistically significant difference was observed between the groups regarding the density of the cells, necrosis, fibrosis, foreign body reaction, and the presence of the cells of acute and chronic infections. Of note, propylene showed slightly less tissue reaction among the other materials. CONCLUSION: The results of our study showed that there is no only one ideal suture material for surgical practice. The factors related to the patient, the type of the surgery and the quality of the tissue are important to decide an appropriate suture material.