Background: Wound closure techniques affect the severity of inflammatory complications that ensue following surgical extraction of the impacted mandibular third molar (M3). The choice of the technique remains a topic for discussion because reports regarding their associated sequelae are split. This study therefore compares the pain, swelling and trismus in the complete closure and the sutureless/non-closure techniques.
Materials and methods: This was a prospective, randomised clinical study carried out at the Dental and Maxillofacial Surgery department of a tertiary hospital. A total of 74 participants requiring impacted mandibular M3 extractions were randomised into a complete closure group and a sutureless technique group. They were subjected to the procedure under similar technique and conditions and followed up for a week to assess their experiences of pain, swelling and trismus. Variables were recorded and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software program, version 25.0. The critical level of significance was set at P < 0.05.
Results: The sutureless group had statistically significantly higher postoperative pain on days 1, 3, 4 and 5 (P < 0.05) and lesser severity of trismus on day 7 (P < 0.05) than the complete closure group. There was no significant difference in swelling.
Conclusion: Compared with the complete closure group, the sutureless group had similar severity of swelling, less trismus but had higher pain severity in the week following M3 surgery.
Keywords: Complete closure; postoperative sequelae; sutureless; third-molar extraction.
Copyright: © 2022 Journal of the West African College of Surgeons.