Comparison of Clinical Efficacy of Submucosal Dexamethasone and Oral Trypsin-chymotrypsin for Reduction of Postoperative Sequelae After Lower Third Molar Surgery

Impacted tooth is a tooth which is completely or partially unerupted and is positioned against another tooth, bone or soft tissue so that its further eruption is unlikely, described according to its anatomic position.

Surgical extraction of the impacted mandibular third molars is the most common procedure in oral surgery clinics. Most of the common postoperative complications following lower third molars surgery are pain, trismus and facial swelling. Adequate surgical methods such as selecting an appropriate flap design, minimal bone removal and less trauma to adjacent soft tissues with proper wound closure techniques could decrease the incidence of postoperative sequelae, but not eliminate it.

surgical edema is expected sequel of removal of impacted lower wisdom tooth. Swelling usually reaches at its maximum on 2nd and 3rd postoperatively day and should start reducing by 4th day. Swelling completely resolves by the 7th to 9th day.

Corticosteroids are routinely employed to control the sequelae of inflammation in third molar surgeries. Steroids prevent diapedesis, the initial leakage of fluids from the capillaries, and stabilize the membranes of the cellular lysosomes which hold large quantities of hydrolytic enzymes. There is also a decrease in the formation of bradykinin, a powerful vasodilating substance. Steroids act by suppression of leucocyte and macrophage accumulation at the inflammatory site by interfering with capillary dilatation, fibrin deposition and prevention of prostaglandin synthesis by inhibiting the arachidonic acid cascade.

Trypsin-chymotrypsin is proteolytic enzymes that acts as anti-inflammatory agents. The concentration of enzymes determined as esterase in blood plasma is increased after trypsin chymotrypsin administration. Since the inflammatory process is thought to be due to peptides elaborated at the site of tissue trauma, it has been postulated that the increased blood esterase due to trypsin chymotrypsin administration inhibits inflammation by hydrolytic degradation of the inflammatory peptides.